arXiv subjects

Neil Epstein

Publications and source records attributed to Neil Epstein.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

A dual to tight closure theory

We introduce an operation on modules over an $F$-finite ring of characteristic $p$. We call this operation \emph{tight interior}. While it exists more generally, in some cases this operation is equivalent to the Matlis dual of tight closure. Moreover, the interior of the ring itself is simply the big test ideal. We directly prove, without appeal to tight closure, results analogous to persistence, colon capturing, and working modulo minimal primes, and we begin to develop a theory dual to phantom homology. Using our dual notion of persistence, we obtain new and interesting transformation rules for tight interior, and so in particular for the test ideal, which complement the main results of a recent paper of the second author and K. Tucker. Using our theory of phantom homology, we prove a vanishing theorem for maps of Ext. We also compare our theory to M. Blickle's notion of Cartier modules, and in the process, we prove new existence results for Blickle's test submodule. Finally, we apply the theory we developed to the study of test ideals in non-normal rings, proving that the finitistic test ideal coincides with the big test ideal in some cases.

math.AC↗

arXiv2012

Zero-divisor graphs of nilpotent-free semigroups

We find strong relationships between the zero-divisor graphs of apparently disparate kinds of nilpotent-free semigroups by introducing the notion of an \emph{Armendariz map} between such semigroups, which preserves many graph-theoretic invariants. We use it to give relationships between the zero-divisor graph of a ring, a polynomial ring, and the annihilating-ideal graph. Then we give relationships between the zero-divisor graphs of certain topological spaces (so-called pearled spaces), prime spectra, maximal spectra, tensor-product semigroups, and the semigroup of ideals under addition, obtaining surprisingly strong structure theorems relating ring-theoretic and topological properties to graph-theoretic invariants of the corresponding graphs.

math.AC↗

arXiv2011

A guide to closure operations in commutative algebra

This article is a survey of closure operations on ideals in commutative rings, with an emphasis on structural properties and on using tools from one part of the field to analyze structures in another part. The survey is broad enough to encompass the radical, tight closure, integral closure, basically full closure, saturation with respect to a fixed ideal, and the v-operation, among others.

math.AC↗

arXiv2011

Some extensions of Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity

Let $R$ be an excellent Noetherian ring of prime characteristic. Consider an arbitrary nested pair of ideals (or more generally, a nested pair of submodules of a fixed finite module). We do \emph{not} assume that their quotient has finite length. In this paper, we develop various sufficient numerical criteria for when the tight closures of these ideals (or submodules) match. For some of the criteria we only prove sufficiency, while some are shown to be equivalent to the tight closures matching. We compare the various numerical measures (in some cases demonstrating that the different measures give truly different numerical results) and explore special cases where equivalence with matching tight closure can be shown. All of our measures derive ultimately from Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity.

math.AC↗

arXiv2011

Criteria for flatness and injectivity

Let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian ring. We give criteria for flatness of $R$-modules in terms of associated primes and torsion-freeness of certain tensor products. This allows us to develop a criterion for regularity if $R$ has characteristic $p$, or more generally if it has a locally contracting endomorphism. Dualizing, we give criteria for injectivity of $R$-modules in terms of coassociated primes and (h-)divisibility of certain $\Hom$-modules. Along the way, we develop tools to achieve such a dual result. These include a careful analysis of the notions of divisibility and h-divisibility (including a localization result), a theorem on coassociated primes across a $\Hom$-module base change, and a local criterion for injectivity.

math.AC↗

arXiv2010

Noether normalizations, reductions of ideals, and matroids

We show that given a finitely generated standard-graded algebra of dimension $d$ over an infinite field, its graded Noether normalizations obey a certain kind of `generic exchange', allowing one to pass between any two of them in at most $d$ steps. We prove analogous generic exchange theorems for minimal reductions of an ideal, minimal complete reductions of a set of ideals, and minimal complete reductions of multigraded $k$-algebras. Finally, we unify all these results into a common axiomatic framework by introducing a new topological-combinatorial structure we call a generic matroid, which is a common generalization of a topological space and a matroid.

math.AC↗

arXiv2010

Reductions and special parts of closures

We provide an axiomatic framework for working with a wide variety of closure operations on ideals and submodules in commutative algebra, including notions of reduction, independence, spread, and special parts of closures. This framework is applied to tight, Frobenius, and integral closures. Applications are given to evolutions and special Briançon-Skoda theorems.

math.AC↗

arXiv2006

A length characterization of $*$-spread

The $*$-spread of an ideal is defined as the minimal number of generators of an ideal which is minimal with respect to having the same tight closure as the original ideal. We prove an asymptotic length formula for the $*$-spread.

math.AC↗

arXiv2004

A tight closure analogue of analytic spread

An analogue of the theory of integral closure and reductions is developed for a more general class of closures, called Nakayama closures. It is shown that tight closure is a Nakayama closure by proving a ``Nakayama lemma for tight closure''. Then, after strengthening A. Vraciu's theory of $*$-independence and the special part of tight closure, it is shown that all minimal $*$-reductions of an ideal in an analytically irreducible excellent local ring of positive characteristic have the same minimal number of generators. This number is called the $*$-spread of the ideal, by analogy with the notion of analytic spread.

math.AC↗