Ideals generated by diagonal 2-minors

Abstract: With a simple graph $G$ on $[n]$, we associate a binomial ideal $P_G$ generated by diagonal minors of an $n \times n$ matrix $X=(x_{ij})$ of variables. We show that for any graph $G$, $P_G$ is a prime complete intersection ideal and determine the divisor class group of $K[X]/ P_G$. By using these ideals, one may find a normal domain with free divisor class group of any given rank.