Harm Derksen made a conjecture concerning degree bounds for the syzygies of rings of polynomial invariants in the non-modular case [Degree bounds for syzygies of invariants, Adv. Math. 185 (2004), 207–214]. We provide counterexamples to this conjecture, but also prove a slightly weakened version. We also prove some general results that give degree bounds on the homology of complexes and of $\text{Tor}\,$ groups.

We compute the characters of the simple $\text{GL}$ -equivariant holonomic ${\mathcal{D}}$ -modules on the vector spaces of general, symmetric, and skew-symmetric matrices. We realize some of these ${\mathcal{D}}$ -modules explicitly as subquotients in the pole order filtration associated to the $\text{determinant}/\text{Pfaffian}$ of a generic matrix, and others as local cohomology modules. We give a direct proof of a conjecture of Levasseur in the case of general and skew-symmetric matrices, and provide counterexamples in the case of symmetric matrices. The character calculations are used in subsequent work with Weyman to describe the ${\mathcal{D}}$ -module composition factors of local cohomology modules with determinantal and Pfaffian support.

Over a Cohen–Macaulay (CM) local ring, we characterize those modules that can be obtained as a direct limit of finitely generated maximal CM modules. We point out two consequences of this characterization: (1) Every balanced big CM module, in the sense of Hochster, can be written as a direct limit of small CM modules. In analogy with Govorov and Lazard's characterization of flat modules as direct limits of finitely generated free modules, one can view this as a “structure theorem” for balanced big CM modules. (2) Every finitely generated module has a pre-envelope with respect to the class of finitely generated maximal CM modules. This result is, in some sense, dual to the existence of maximal CM approximations, which has been proved by Auslander and Buchweitz.

Let $R$ be a commutative Gorenstein ring. A result of Araya reduces the Auslander–Reiten conjecture on the vanishing of self-extensions to the case where $R$ has Krull dimension at most one. In this paper we extend Araya’s result to certain $R$-algebras. As a consequence of our argument, we obtain examples of bound quiver algebras that satisfy the Auslander–Reiten conjecture.

We consider plane Cremona maps with proper base points and the base ideal generated by the linear system of forms defining the map. The object of this work is to study the link between the algebraic properties of the base ideal and those of the ideal of these points fattened by the virtual multiplicities arising from the linear system. We reveal conditions which naturally regulate this association, with particular emphasis on the homological side. While most classical numerical inequalities concern the three highest virtual multiplicities, here we emphasize also the role of one single highest multiplicity. In this vein we describe classes of Cremona maps for large and small values of the highest virtual multiplicity. We also deal with the delicate question as to when is the base ideal non-saturated and consider the structure of its saturation.

We prove that the Hilbert–Kunz multiplicity is upper semi-continuous in F-finite rings and algebras of essentially finite type over an excellent local ring.

Let $(S,\mathfrak{m})$ be an $n$-dimensional regular local ring essentially of finite type over a field and let $\mathfrak{a}$ be an ideal of $S$. We prove that if $\text{depth}\,S/\mathfrak{a}\geqslant 3$, then the cohomological dimension $\text{cd}(S,\mathfrak{a})$ of $\mathfrak{a}$ is less than or equal to $n-3$. This settles a conjecture of Varbaro for such an $S$. We also show, under the assumption that $S$ has an algebraically closed residue field of characteristic zero, that if $\text{depth}\,S/\mathfrak{a}\geqslant 4$, then $\text{cd}(S,\mathfrak{a})\leqslant n-4$ if and only if the local Picard group of the completion $\widehat{S/\mathfrak{a}}$ is torsion. We give a number of applications, including a vanishing result on Lyubeznik’s numbers, and sharp bounds on the cohomological dimension of ideals whose quotients satisfy good depth conditions such as Serre’s conditions $(S_{i})$.

Tensor products usually have nonzero torsion. This is a central theme of Auslander's 1961 paper; the theme continues in the work of Huneke and Wiegand in the 1990s. The main focus in this article is on tensor powers of a finitely generated module over a local ring. Also, we study torsion-free modules N with the property that M ⊗R N has nonzero torsion unless M is very special. An important example of such a module N is the Frobenius power pe R over a complete intersection domain R of characteristic p > 0.

We address two aspects of finitely generated modules of finite projective dimension over local rings and their connection in between: embeddability and grade of order ideals of minimal generators of syzygies. We provide a solution of the embeddability problem and prove important reductions and special cases of the order ideal conjecture. In particular, we derive that, in any local ring R of mixed characteristic p > 0, where p is a nonzero divisor, if I is an ideal of finite projective dimension over R and p 𝜖 I or p is a nonzero divisor on R/I, then every minimal generator of I is a nonzero divisor. Hence, if P is a prime ideal of finite projective dimension in a local ring R, then every minimal generator of P is a nonzero divisor in R.

We prove that the coherent cohomology of a proper morphism of noetherian schemes can be made arbitrarily $p$-divisible by passage to proper covers (for a fixed prime $p$). Under some extra conditions, we also show that $p$-torsion can be killed by passage to proper covers. These results are motivated by the desire to understand rational singularities in mixed characteristic, and have applications in $p$-adic Hodge theory.

The K-theoretical aspect of the commutative Bezout rings is established using the arithmetical properties of the Bezout rings in order to obtain a ring of all Smith normal forms of matrices over the Bezout ring. The internal structure and basic properties of such rings are discussed as well as their presentations by the Witt vectors. In a case of a commutative von Neumann regular rings the famous Grothendieck group K 0(R) obtains the alternative description.

Regularity, complete intersection and Gorenstein properties of a local ring can be characterized by homological conditions on the canonical homomorphism into its residue field. In positive characteristic, the Frobenius endomorphism (and, more generally, any contracting endomorphism) can also be used for these characterizations. We introduce here a class of local homomorphisms, in some sense larger than all above, for which these characterizations still hold, providing an unified treatment for this class of homomorphisms.

We give explicit formulas for the Hilbert series of residual intersections of a scheme in terms of the Hilbert series of its conormal modules. In a previous paper, we proved that such formulas should exist. We give applications to the number of equations defining projective varieties and to the dimension of secant varieties of surfaces and three-folds.

Let $R$ be a commutative ring. In this paper we study the behavior of Gorenstein homological dimensions of a homologically bounded $R$-complex under special base changes to the rings $R_{x}$ and $R/xR$, where $x$ is a regular element in $R$. Our main results refine some known formulae for the classical homological dimensions. In particular, we provide the Gorenstein counterpart of a criterion for projectivity of finitely generated modules, due to Vasconcelos.

Let K be a field of characteristic zero, and let R = K[X1,… ,Xn ]. Let An(K) = K⟨X1,… ,Xn,∂1,… ,∂n⟩ be the nth Weyl algebra over K. We consider the case when R and An (K) are graded by giving deg Xi = ωi and deg ∂i = –ωi for i = 1,…,n (here ωi are positive integers). Set . Let I be a graded ideal in R. By a result due to Lyubeznik the local cohomology modules are holonomic (An (K))-modules for each i≥0. In this article we prove that the de Rham cohomology modules are concentrated in degree —ω; that is, for j ≠ –ω. As an application when A = R/(f) is an isolated singularity, we relate to Hn-1 (∂(f);A), the (n – 1)th Koszul cohomology of A with respect to ∂1 (f),…, ∂n (f).

The goal of this paper is to prove that if certain ‘standard’ conjectures on motives over algebraically closed fields hold, then over any ‘reasonable’ scheme $S$ there exists a motivic$t$-structure for the category $\text{DM}_{c}(S)$ of relative Voevodsky’s motives (to be more precise, for the Beilinson motives described by Cisinski and Deglise). If $S$ is of finite type over a field, then the heart of this $t$-structure (the category of mixed motivic sheaves over $S$) is endowed with a weight filtration with semisimple factors. We also prove a certain ‘motivic decomposition theorem’ (assuming the conjectures mentioned) and characterize semisimple motivic sheaves over $S$ in terms of those over its residue fields. Our main tool is the theory of weight structures. We actually prove somewhat more than the existence of a weight filtration for mixed motivic sheaves: we prove that the motivic $t$-structure is transversal to the Chow weight structure for $\text{DM}_{c}(S)$ (that was introduced previously by Hébert and the author). We also deduce several properties of mixed motivic sheaves from this fact. Our reasoning relies on the degeneration of Chow weight spectral sequences for ‘perverse étale homology’ (which we prove unconditionally); this statement also yields the existence of the Chow weight filtration for such (co)homology that is strictly restricted by (‘motivic’) morphisms.

Let R be a complete intersection ring, and let M and N be R-modules. It is shown that the vanishing of ExtiR(M, N) for a certain number of consecutive values of i starting at n forces the complete intersection dimension of M to be at most n–1. We also estimate the complete intersection dimension of M*, the dual of M, in terms of vanishing of cohomology modules, ExtiR(M,N).

In this paper, we prove that cyclic homology, topological cyclic homology, and algebraic $K$-theory satisfy a pro Mayer–Vietoris property with respect to abstract blow-up squares of varieties, in both zero and finite characteristic. This may be interpreted as the well-definedness of $K$-theory with compact support.

Grothendieck duality theory assigns to essentially finite-type maps $f$ of noetherian schemes a pseudofunctor $f^{\times }$ right-adjoint to $\mathsf{R}f_{\ast }$, and a pseudofunctor $f^{!}$ agreeing with $f^{\times }$ when $f$ is proper, but equal to the usual inverse image $f^{\ast }$ when $f$ is étale. We define and study a canonical map from the first pseudofunctor to the second. This map behaves well with respect to flat base change, and is taken to an isomorphism by ‘compactly supported’ versions of standard derived functors. Concrete realizations are described, for instance for maps of affine schemes. Applications include proofs of reduction theorems for Hochschild homology and cohomology, and of a remarkable formula for the fundamental class of a flat map of affine schemes.

In order to develop the foundations of derived logarithmic geometry, we introduce a model category of logarithmic simplicial rings and a notion of derived log-étale maps, and use them to define derived log stacks.