A Construction of Sequentially Cohen–Macaulay Graphs

Abstract

For every simple graph [Formula: see text], a class of multiple clique cluster-whiskered graphs [Formula: see text] is introduced, and it is shown that all such graphs are vertex decomposable; thus, the independence simplicial complex [Formula: see text] is sequentially Cohen–Macaulay. The properties of the graphs [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] constructed by Cook and Nagel are studied, including the enumeration of facets of the complex [Formula: see text] and the calculation of Betti numbers of the cover ideal [Formula: see text]. We also prove that the complex[Formula: see text] is strongly shellable and pure for either a Boolean graph [Formula: see text] or the full clique-whiskered graph [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], which is obtained by adding a whisker to each vertex of [Formula: see text]. This implies that both the facet ideal [Formula: see text] and the cover ideal [Formula: see text] have linear quotients.