On the Chern number of \(I\)-admissible filtrations of ideals (Q1947254)

Let \((R,\mathfrak{m})\) be a Noetherian local ring of dimension \(d\) and \(I\) an \(\mathfrak{m}\)-primary ideal. A filtration \({\mathcal I}=\{I_n\}_{n\in {\mathbb Z}}\) of ideals of \(R\) is \textit{\(I\)-admissible} if there exists \(k\in {\mathbb N}\) such that \(I^n\subseteq I_n \subseteq I^{n-k}\), for all \(n\). The Hilbert function of~\(\mathcal I\), \(n\mapsto \text{length}_R(R/I_n)\), agrees with a degree \(d\) polynomial in \(n\) with rational coefficients, for large \(n\). Writing this polynomial in the usual form, \[ e_0({\mathcal I}){n+d-1 \choose d}-e_1({\mathcal I}){n+d-2 \choose d-1}+\cdots+(-1)^de_d({\mathcal I}), \] the coefficient \(e_0({\mathcal I})\) is just the multiplicity of the ideal, and the coefficient \(e_1({\mathcal I})\) is called the \textit{Chern number} or \textit{Chern coefficient} of \(\mathcal I\)---the focus of the paper under review. The authors combine ideas of [\textit{T.\ Marley}, Hilbert functions of ideals in Cohen--Macaulay rings, Ph.D.\ Thesis, Purdue University, Lafayette, (1989)] and \textit{S.\ Huckaba} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 124, No. 5, 1393--1401 (1996; Zbl 0849.13009)] to derive a formula expressing the Chern number of an \(I\)-admissible filtration as a sum of Euler characteristics of a sequence of subcomplexes of a Koszul complex, under the assumption that the residue field \(R/\mathfrak{m}\) is infinite. Specializing this formula to dimensions one and two they obtain more concrete formulas; in the one-dimensional Cohen--Macaulay case the formula takes a particularly pleasant form: \[ e_1({\mathcal I})=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \text{length}_R(I_n/xI_{n-1}), \] where \((x)\) is a minimal reduction of \(\mathcal I\). With these formulas at hand, the authors proceed to provide new, simpler and unified proofs of results of Rees, Sally, Lipman, and Huneke concerning Hilbert functions, polynomials, and coefficients.