Let $(A,\m)$ be a Noetherian local ring with infinite residue field and let $I$ be an ideal in $A$ and let $F(I) = \bigoplus_{n \geq 0}I^n/\m I^n$ be the fiber cone of $I$. We prove certain relations among the Hilbert coefficients $f_0(I),f_1(I), f_2(I)$ of $F(I)$ when the $a$-invariant of the associated graded ring $G(I)$ is negative.

In a recent paper, F. Zanello showed that level Artinian algebras in 3 variables can fail to have the Weak Lefschetz Property (WLP), and can even fail to have unimodal Hilbert function. We show that the same is true for the Artinian reduction of reduced, level sets of points in projective 3-space. Our main goal is to begin an understanding of how the geometry of a set of points can prevent its Artinian reduction from having WLP, which in itself is a very algebraic notion. More precisely, we produce level sets of points whose Artinian reductions have socle types 3 and 4 and arbitrary socle degree $\geq 12$ (in the worst case), but fail to have WLP. We also produce a level set of points whose Artinian reduction fails to have unimodal Hilbert function; our example is based on Zanello's example. Finally, we show that a level set of points can have Artinian reduction that has WLP but fails to have the Strong Lefschetz Property. While our constructions are all based on basic double G-linkage, the implementations use very different methods.

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic 0, $R=k[x_1, \ldots, x_d]$ be a polynomial ring, and $\mm$ its maximal homogeneous ideal. Let $I \subset R$ be a homogeneous ideal in $R$. Let $\lambda(M)$ denote the length of an $R$-module $M$. In this paper, we show that $$ \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\l\bigl(H^0_{\mathfrak{m}}(R/I^n)\bigr)}{n^d} =\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\l\bigl(\Ext^d_R\bigl(R/I^n,R(-d)\bigr)\bigr)}{n^d} $$ always exists. This limit has been shown to be ${e(I)}/{d!}$ for $m$-primary ideals $I$ in a local Cohen--Macaulay ring, where $e(I)$ denotes the multiplicity of $I$. But we find that this limit may not be rational in general. We give an example for which the limit is an irrational number thereby showing that the lengths of these extention modules may not have polynomial growth.

In this paper, we find configurations of points in $n$-dimensional projective space ($\proj ^n$) which simultaneously generalize both $k$-configurations and reduced 0-dimensional complete intersections. Recall that $k$-configurations in $\proj ^2$ are disjoint unions of distinct points on lines and in $\proj ^n$ are inductively disjoint unions of $k$-configurations on hyperplanes, subject to certain conditions. Furthermore, the Hilbert function of a $k$-configuration is determined from those of the smaller $k$-configurations. We call our generalized constructions $k_D$-configurations, where $D=\{ d_1, \ldots ,d_r\}$ (a set of $r$ positive integers with repetition allowed) is the type of a given complete intersection in $\proj ^n$. We show that the Hilbert function of any $k_D$-configuration can be obtained from those of smaller $k_D$-configurations. We then provide applications of this result in two different directions, both of which are motivated by corresponding results about $k$-configurations.

We study the Hilbert functions of fat points in $\popo$. If $Z \subseteq \popo$ is an arbitrary fat point scheme, then it can be shown that for every $i$ and $j$ the values of the Hilbert function $_{Z}(l,j)$ and $H_{Z}(i,l)$ eventually become constant for $l \gg 0$. We show how to determine these eventual values by using only the multiplicities of the points, and the relative positions of the points in $\popo$. This enables us to compute all but a finite number values of $H_{Z}$ without using the coordinates of points. We also characterize the ACM fat point schemes sing our description of the eventual behaviour. In fact, n the case that $Z \subseteq \popo$ is ACM, then the entire Hilbert function and its minimal free resolution depend solely on knowing the eventual values of the Hilbert function.

Let $\H$ be the Hilbert function of some set of distinct points in $\P^n$ and let $\alpha = \alpha (\H)$ be the least degree of a hypersurface of $\P^n$ containing these points. Write $\alpha = d_s + d_{s-1} + \cdots + d_1$ (where $d_i > 0$). We canonically decompose $\H$ into $s$ other Hilbert functions $\H \leftrightarrow (\H_s^\prime, \dots, \H_1^\prime)$ and show how to find sets of distinct points $\Y_s, \dots, \Y_1$, lying on reduced hypersurfaces of degrees $d_s, \dots, d_1$ (respectively) such that the Hilbert function of $\Y_i$ is $\H_i^\prime$ and the Hilbert function of $\Y = \bigcup_{i=1}^s \Y_i$ is $\H$. Some extremal properties of this canonical decomposition are also explored.