In
algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary ...
and
algebraic geometry, given a
commutative
In mathematics, a binary operation is commutative if changing the order of the operands does not change the result. It is a fundamental property of many binary operations, and many mathematical proofs depend on it. Most familiar as the name of ...
Noetherian ring
In mathematics, a Noetherian ring is a ring that satisfies the ascending chain condition on left and right ideals; if the chain condition is satisfied only for left ideals or for right ideals, then the ring is said left-Noetherian or right-Noethe ...
and an
ideal
Ideal may refer to:
Philosophy
* Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals
* Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato
Mathematics
* Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...
in it, the ''n''-th symbolic power of
is the ideal
:
where
is the
localization
Localization or localisation may refer to:
Biology
* Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence
* Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...
of
at
, we set
is the canonical map from a ring to its localization, and the intersection runs through all of the
associated prime
In abstract algebra, an associated prime of a module ''M'' over a ring ''R'' is a type of prime ideal of ''R'' that arises as an annihilator of a (prime) submodule of ''M''. The set of associated primes is usually denoted by \operatorname_R(M), ...
s of
.
Though this definition does not require
to be
prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
, this assumption is often worked with because in the case of a
prime ideal, the symbolic power can be equivalently defined as the
-
primary component
In mathematics, the Lasker–Noether theorem states that every Noetherian ring is a Lasker ring, which means that every ideal can be decomposed as an intersection, called primary decomposition, of finitely many ''primary ideals'' (which are relate ...
of
. Very roughly, it consists of functions with zeros of order ''n'' along the variety defined by
. We have:
and if
is a
maximal ideal
In mathematics, more specifically in ring theory, a maximal ideal is an ideal that is maximal (with respect to set inclusion) amongst all ''proper'' ideals. In other words, ''I'' is a maximal ideal of a ring ''R'' if there are no other ideals c ...
, then
.
Symbolic powers induce the following chain of ideals:
:
Uses
The study and use of symbolic powers has a long history in
commutative algebra
Commutative algebra, first known as ideal theory, is the branch of algebra that studies commutative rings, their ideals, and modules over such rings. Both algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory build on commutative algebra. Prom ...
.
Krull’s famous proof of his
principal ideal theorem
In mathematics, the principal ideal theorem of class field theory, a branch of algebraic number theory, says that extending ideals gives a mapping on the class group of an algebraic number field to the class group of its Hilbert class field, wh ...
uses them in an essential way. They first arose after
primary decomposition
In mathematics, the Lasker–Noether theorem states that every Noetherian ring is a Lasker ring, which means that every ideal can be decomposed as an intersection, called primary decomposition, of finitely many '' primary ideals'' (which are relate ...
s were proved for
Noetherian rings
In mathematics, a Noetherian ring is a ring that satisfies the ascending chain condition on left and right ideals; if the chain condition is satisfied only for left ideals or for right ideals, then the ring is said left-Noetherian or right-Noethe ...
.
Zariski
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Kobrin, Russian Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
, nationality = American
, field = Mathematics
, work_institutions = ...
used symbolic powers in his study of the analytic
normality of
algebraic varieties
Algebraic varieties are the central objects of study in algebraic geometry, a sub-field of mathematics. Classically, an algebraic variety is defined as the set of solutions of a system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers. ...
.
Chevalley's famous lemma comparing
topologies
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ho ...
states that in a
complete local domain the symbolic powers
topology
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...
of any
prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
is
finer than the
''m''-adic topology. A crucial step in the vanishing theorem on
local cohomology In algebraic geometry, local cohomology is an algebraic analogue of relative cohomology. Alexander Grothendieck introduced it in seminars in Harvard in 1961 written up by , and in 1961-2 at IHES written up as SGA2 - , republished as . Given a fu ...
of Hartshorne and Lichtenbaum uses that for a prime
defining a
curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...
in a
complete local domain, the powers of
are
cofinal with the symbolic powers of
. This important property of being
cofinal was further developed by Schenzel in the 1970s.
In algebraic geometry
Though
generators for ''ordinary powers'' of
are well understood when
is given in terms of its generators as
, it is still very difficult in many cases to determine the generators of symbolic powers of
. But in the
geometric setting, there is a clear geometric interpretation in the case when
is a
radical ideal
In ring theory, a branch of mathematics, the radical of an ideal I of a commutative ring is another ideal defined by the property that an element x is in the radical if and only if some power of x is in I. Taking the radical of an ideal is called ' ...
over an
algebraically closed field of
characteristic zero
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's multiplicative identity (1) in a sum to get the additive identity (0). If this sum never reaches the additive ide ...
.
If
is an
irreducible variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
whose ideal of vanishing is
, then the ''
differential power'' of
consists of all the
functions in
that vanish
to order ≥ ''n'' on
, i.e.
:
Or equivalently, if
is the
maximal ideal
In mathematics, more specifically in ring theory, a maximal ideal is an ideal that is maximal (with respect to set inclusion) amongst all ''proper'' ideals. In other words, ''I'' is a maximal ideal of a ring ''R'' if there are no other ideals c ...
for a point
,
.
Theorem (Nagata, Zariski) Let
be a prime ideal in a
polynomial ring
In mathematics, especially in the field of algebra, a polynomial ring or polynomial algebra is a ring (which is also a commutative algebra) formed from the set of polynomials in one or more indeterminates (traditionally also called variables ...