Let $G$ be a graph on the vertex set $V = \{ 0, 1,\ldots,n\}$ with root $0$. Postnikov and Shapiro were the first to consider a monomial ideal $\mathcal{M}_G$, called the $G$-parking function ideal, in the polynomial ring $ R = {\mathbb{K}}[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ over a field $\mathbb{K}$ and explained its connection to the chip-firing game on graphs. The standard monomials of the Artinian quotient $\frac{R}{\mathcal{M}_G}$ correspond bijectively to $G$-parking functions. Dochtermann introduced and studied skeleton ideals of the graph $G$, which are subideals of the $G$-parking function ideal with an additional parameter $k ~(0\le k \le n-1)$. A $k$-skeleton ideal $\mathcal{M}_G^{(k)}$ of the graph $G$ is generated by monomials corresponding to non-empty subsets of the set of non-root vertices $[n]$ of size at most $k+1$. Dochtermann obtained many interesting homological and combinatorial properties of these skeleton ideals. In this paper, we study the $k$-skeleton ideals of graphs and for certain classes of graphs provide explicit formulas and combinatorial interpretation of standard monomials and the Betti numbers.
The sandpile model on the complete split graph, Motzkin words, and tiered parking functions
