Factorially graded rings and Cox rings (Q1946111)

The Cox ring \(R(X)\), also called the homogeneous coordinate ring, is an important invariant of an algebraic variety \(X\). It comes with a grading by the divisor class group \(\text{Cl}(X)\). Moreover, the ring \(R(X)\) is factorially graded, i.e. homogeneous elements allow a unique decomposition into homogeneous irreducible factors. The aim of the paper under review is to study the graded factoriality property from an algebraic point of view. The author gives a criterion in terms of localizations which in a sense reduces graded factoriality to the usual unique factorization. This allows to detect and construct Cox rings in a purely algebraic manner. Also some results on behaviour of Cox rings under polynomial extensions and extensions of the grading are obtained.