Failure of F-purity and F-regularity in certain rings of invariants (Q1129758)

Let \(K\) be a field of characteristic \(p\). In this paper, the author investigates \(F\)-purity and \(F\)-regularity in rings of invariants \(R^G\) of the polynomial ring \(R=K[X_1,\dots,X_n]\), where \(G\) is either the symplectic group acting on \(R\) in the natural way or the alternating group acting on \(R\) by permuting the variables. When \(K\) is an infinite field containing \(\mathbb{F}_q\), \(G=\text{Sp}_4(\mathbb{F}_q)\), and \(R=K[X_1,X_2,X_3,X_4]\), then \(R^G\) is a complete intersection which is not \(F\)-pure. When \(G=A_n\), \(p\) is odd, and \(n\geq 3\), then \(R^G\) is \(F\)-regular (equivalently, a direct summand of \(R)\) if and only if \(p\) does not divide \(| A_n|\). Thus if \(p\) divides \(| A_n|\), then \(R^G\) is an \(F\)-pure ring which is not \(F\)-regular. When \(G=A_n\), this extends earlier work of \textit{D. Glassbrenner} [see J. Algebra 176, No. 3, 824-860 (1995; Zbl 0847.14004)].