Recent work of Ein-Lazarsfeld-Smith and Hochster-Huneke raised the problem of which symbolic powers of an ideal are contained in a given ordinary power of the ideal. Bocci-Harbourne developed methods to address this problem, which involve asymptotic numerical characters of symbolic powers of the ideals. Most of the work done up to now has been done for ideals defining 0-dimensional subschemes of projective space. Here we focus on certain subschemes given by a union of lines in $\mathbb{P}^3$ which can also be viewed as points in $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$. We also obtain results on the closely related problem, studied by Hochster and by Li-Swanson, of determining situations for which each symbolic power of an ideal is an ordinary power.

Multiview geometry is the study of two-dimensional images of three-dimensional scenes, a foundational subject in computer vision. We determine a universal Gröbner basis for the multiview ideal of $n$ generic cameras. As the cameras move, the multiview varieties vary in a family of dimension $11n-15$. This family is the distinguished component of a multigraded Hilbert scheme with a unique Borel-fixed point. We present a combinatorial study of ideals lying on that Hilbert scheme.