Positivity of intersection multiplicity over a two-dimensional base (Q1634863)

Let \(A\) be a regular local ring. If \(M\) and \(N\) are finitely generated \(A\)-modules such that the length of the module \(M\otimes_A N\) is finite, the intersection multiplicity of \(M\) and \(N\), as introduced by \textit{J.-P. Serre} [Algèbre locale. Multiplicités. Cours au Collège de France, 1957-1958, rédigé par Pierre Gabriel. 2e ed. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1965; Zbl 0142.28603)], is defined by \[ \chi^A(M,N) = \sum_{i \geq 0} (-1)^i \ell(\operatorname{Tor}_i^A(M,N)), \] where \(\ell\) is the length function. This paper is concerned with Serre's Positivity Conjecture: If \(\dim M + \dim N = \dim A\), then \(\chi^A(M,N) > 0\). While the general case is still open, Serre [loc. cit.] proved that the conjecture holds when \(A\) is a formal power series ring \(R[[X_1,\ldots, X_m]]\) where \(R\) is either a field or a complete discrete valuation ring. In this paper, the author proves the conjecture when the coefficient ring \(R\) is a complete regular local ring of dimension two. As an application, it is shown that if \(f : X \to Y\) is a smooth morphism of noetherian schemes with \(Y\) regular of dimension two, then every local ring \(O_{X,x}\) satisfies Serre's Positivity Conjecture. This was already known to be true when the base is one-dimensional [\textit{W. Fulton}, Intersection theory. Berlin: Springer (1998; Zbl 0885.14002)].