Characterizations of regular local rings via syzygy modules of the residue field (Q1622004)

Let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian local ring with maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}$ and residue field $k$. For any integer $n\geq 0$, denote the $n$th syzygy module of $k$ by $\Omega^R_n(k)$. In [Math. Sci. Res. Inst. 15, 139--156 (1989; Zbl 0733.13006)], \textit{S. P. Dutta} proved that the ring $R$ is regular if and only if $\Omega^R_n(k)$ has a non-zero free direct summand for some $n\geq 0$. Later, \textit{R. Takahashi} [J. Algebra 295, No. 1, 179--194 (2006; Zbl 1111.13015)] generalized Dutta's result and showed that the ring $R$ is regular if and only if $\Omega^R_n(k)$ has a semidualizing direct summand for some $n\geq 0$. In this paper, the authors improve Takahashi's result and show that if a finite direct sum of syzygy modules of $k$ maps onto a semidualizing $R$-module or a non-zero maximal Cohen-Macaulay module of finite injective dimension, then $R$ is regular. They also prove that $R$ is regular if and only if some syzygy module of $k$ has a non-zero direct summand of finite injective dimension.