Minimal and cellular free resolutions over polynomial OI-algebras

Minimal free resolutions of graded modules over a noetherian polynomial ring have been attractive objects of interest for more than a hundred years. We introduce and study two natural extensions in the setting of graded modules over a polynomial OI-algebra, namely minimal and width-wise minimal free resolutions. A minimal free resolution of an OI-module can be characterized by the fact that the free module in every fixed homological degree, say i, has minimal rank among all free resolutions of the module. We show that any finitely generated graded module over a noetherian polynomial OI-algebra admits a graded minimal free resolution and that it is unique. A width-wise minimal free resolution is a free resolution that provides a minimal free resolution of a module in every width. Such a resolution is necessarily minimal. Its existence is not guaranteed. However, we show that certain monomial OI-ideals do admit width-wise minimal free or, more generally, width-wise minimal flat resolutions. These ideals include families of well-known monomial ideals such as Ferrers ideals and squarefree strongly stable ideals. The arguments rely on the theory of cellular resolutions.