Gröbner bases for \(D\)-modules on a non-singular affine algebraic variety (Q1362574): Difference between revisions

This paper deals with the following situation. Let \(V\subset K^n\) be a smooth irreducible variety, where \(K\) is an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Let \({\mathcal D}_V\) be the sheaf of algebraic differential operators on \(V\), defined on an open subset \(W\subset V\), as the subring of \(\text{ End}_K({\mathcal O}_V(W))\) generated by \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\) and by the \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\)-module of differentials \(\Theta_V(W)\) of \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\) (N.B. This definition is only good for smooth varieties; the definition of \({\mathcal D}_V\) for a not necessarily smooth \(V\) is more involved). Because of smoothness, for any sufficiently small open \(W\subset V\), \(\Theta_V(W)\) is a free \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\)-module of rank \(d=\dim V\). It is not hard to see that \({\mathcal D}_V(W)\) is filtered by an increasing family of free \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\)-modules \({\mathcal D }^r_V(W)\), for \(r=0,1,\ldots\) (an element of \({\mathcal D}^r_V(W)\) is a differential operator of order \(\leq r\)). The author is concerned with the computation of Gröbner bases of coherent modules over the ring \({\mathcal D}_V(W)\) or of coherent modules over a similar subring therein generated, as a \(K[V]\)-algebra, by a set of derivations that generate \(\Theta_V(W)\) generically. By pulling this subring back to the Weyl algebra, by choosing inverse images of these derivations, the author is able to reduce the question to that of computing Gröbner bases of (left) submodules of the free \(A_V\)-module \((A_V)^r\), where \(A_V\) is the subring of the Weyl algebra thus constructed. As it turns out, the question then boils down to a calculation of Gröbner bases over a half-commutative polynomial ring over \(K\). This is a subject that has fetched much attention in recent years. Part of the results along this line is a mere repetition of what is known in the classical (i.e., commutative) case, but there are quite a few genuine problems involved when considering one-sided ideals and modules. The author proposes two methods for computing Gröbner bases in the aforementioned context. As an application, he shows how to compute the characteristic variety of a coherent \({\mathcal D}_V(W)\)-module \({\mathcal M}\), given in terms of a free \({\mathcal O}_V(W)\)-presentation, as an explicit subset of a trivialization \(T^*W=W\times K^d\) (\(d=\dim V\)) of the cotangent bundle to \(V\). Some examples are worked out with the assistance of a computer algebra program seemingly developed in the Fujitsu Laboratories in Japan (it would be nice to have such an addition easily accessible to the mathematical community at large).