Core versus graded core and global sections of line bundles

We find formulas for the graded core of certain m-primary ideals in a graded ring. In particular, if S is the section ring of an ample line bundle on a Cohen-Macaulay complex projective variety, we show that under suitable hypothesis, the core and graded core of the ideal of S generated by all elements of degrees at least N (for some, equivalently every, large N) are equal if and only if the line bundle admits a non-zero global section. We also prove a formula for the graded core of the powers of the unique homogeneous maximal ideal in a standard graded Cohen-Macaulay ring of arbitrary characteristic. Several open problems are posed whose solutions would lead to progress on a non-vanishing conjecture of Kawamata.