On Gelfand-Kirillov dimension and related topics (Q1113973)

Two major problems concerning the Gelfand-Kirillov dimension remain far from being settled: (i) Under what conditions is the GK-dimension of an algebra, or of a module, an integer (or infinite), and (ii) When does \(GK\dim (M)=\max \{GK\dim (N)\), GKdim(M/N)\(\}\) hold for a submodule N of a module M over the k-algebra S? While both questions have an affirmative answer for certain specific classes of noetherian algebras, such as, for example, enveloping algebras of finite dimensional Lie algebras, results of a general nature are rare. The author presents a contribution towards question (ii) by carefully analyzing the behaviour of the filtrations used in the definition of the GK-dimension of a module and that of the filtrations induced on submodules. The main result of the first part of the paper states that if I is a two-sided ideal of an algebra S which is finitely generated as a right ideal, and if S/I is a finitely generated right module over some locally strongly finitely presented subalgebra, then \(GK\dim (S)=\max \{GK\dim (S/I)\), \(GK(\dim (I^ t)\}\) for any positive integer t. In the second part of the article, Poincaré series of graded modules are studied. Using a modification of the usual Hilbert-Serre Theorem, it is shown that the Poincaré series is a rational function for noetherian graded modules over an interesting class of algebras that includes, for example, positively graded PI algebras. Furthermore, an affirmative answer is given to the above questions for noetherian graded modules over these algebras.