Edge Ideals of Weighted Graphs

We study weighted graphs and their “edge ideals” which are ideals in polynomial rings that are defined in terms of the graphs. We provide combinatorial descriptions of m-irreducible decompositions for the edge ideal of a weighted graph in terms of the combinatorics of “weighted vertex covers”. We use these, for instance, to say when these ideals are m-unmixed. We explicitly describe which weighted cycles, suspensions, and trees are unmixed and which ones are Cohen-Macaulay, and we prove that all weighted complete graphs are Cohen-Macaulay.