Unruffled extensions and flatness over central subalgebras. (Q1770457)

Let \(k\) an uncountable algebraically closed field \(k\) and \(A\) a Noetherian affine \(k\)-algebra. Suppose that \(Z\) is a central affine subalgebra of \(A\) containing no zero divisors in \(A\). It is assumed that \(A\) is Cohen-Macaulay, which means that \(Z\) is smooth and \[ \text{GK-dim}_kA=j(M)+\text{GK-dim}_k(M) \] for all non-zero finitely generated \(A\)-modules \(M\). Here \(j(M)\) is the least integer \(j\) such that \(\text{Ext}_A^j(M,A)\neq 0\). Suppose that \({\mathfrak m}A\neq A\) for all maximal ideals \(\mathfrak m\) in \(Z\). Then the following are equivalent: (1) \(A\) is a flat \(Z\)-module, (2) \(\text{GK-dim}_kA/{\mathfrak m}A=\text{GK-dim}_{Q(Z)}(A\otimes_ZQ(Z))\) for any maximal ideal \(\mathfrak m\) in \(Z\). -- Here \(Q(Z)\) is the field of fractions of \(Z\).