Universally free numerical semigroups

Abstract

A numerical semigroup is said to be universally free if it is free for any possible arrangement of its minimal generating set. In this work, we establish that toric ideals associated with universally free numerical semigroups can be generated by their set of circuits. Additionally, we provide a characterization of universally free numerical semigroups in terms of Gröbner bases. Specifically, a numerical semigroup is universally free if and only if all initial ideals of its corresponding toric ideal are complete intersections. Furthermore, we establish several equalities among the toric bases of a universally free numerical semigroup.We provide a complete characterization of 3-generated universally free numerical semigroups in terms of their minimal generating sets, and by proving the equality of certain toric bases. We compute exactly all the toric bases of a toric ideal defined by a 3-generated universally free numerical semigroup. Notably, we answer some questions posed by Tatakis and Thoma by demonstrating that toric ideals defined by 3-generated universally free numerical semigroups have a set of circuits and a universal Gröbner basis of size 3, while the universal Markov basis and the Graver basis can be arbitrarily large. We present partial results and propose several conjectures regarding universally free numerical semigroups with more than three generators.