Almost complete intersection binomial edge ideals and their Rees algebras

Abstract: Let $G$ be a simple graph on $n$ vertices and $J_G$ denote the binomial edge ideal of $G$ in the polynomial ring $S = \mathbb{K}[x_1, \ldots, x_n, y_1, \ldots, y_n].$ In this article, we compute the second graded Betti numbers of $J_G$, and we obtain a minimal presentation of it when $G$ is a tree or a unicyclic graph. We classify all graphs whose binomial edge ideals are almost complete intersection, prove that they are generated by a $d$-sequence and that the Rees algebra of their binomial edge ideal is Cohen-Macaulay. We also obtain an explicit description of the defining ideal of the Rees algebra of those binomial edge ideals.