Depth of powers of edge ideals of cycles and trees

Abstract

Let $I$ be the edge ideal of a cycle of length $n \ge 5$ over a polynomial ring $S = \mathrm{k}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$. We prove that for $2 \le t < \lceil (n+1)/2 \rceil$, $$\operatorname{depth} (S/I^t) = \lceil \frac{n -t + 1}{3} \rceil.$$ When $G = T_{\mathbf{a}}$ is a starlike tree which is the join of $k$ paths of length $a_1, \ldots, a_k$ at a common root $1$, we give a formula for the depth of powers of $I(T_{\mathbf{a}})$.