The local cohomology of a parameter ideal with respect to an arbitrary ideal (Q2236090)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring, \(\mathfrak{a}\) an ideal of \(R\), and \(M\) an \(R\)-module. For any \(i \geq 0\), the \(i\)th local cohomology module of \(M\) with respect to \(\mathfrak{a}\) is given by \[H^{i}_{\mathfrak{a}}(M) \cong \underset{n\geq 1}\varinjlim \mathrm{Ext}^{i}_{R}\left(\frac{R}{\mathfrak{a}^{n}},M\right).\] Now let \(R\) be a regular ring, \(\mathfrak{b}\) an ideal of \(R\) generated by a regular sequence of codimension at least \(2\), and \(\mathfrak{a}\) an ideal of \(R\) containing \(\mathfrak{b}\). The author gives an example of a local cohomology module \(H^{3}_{\mathfrak{a}}(\mathfrak{b})\) with infinitely many associated prime ideals, answering a question of Hochster and Nùnez-Betancourt in the negative. In fact, for \(i \leq 4\), she shows that under suitable hypotheses on \(R/\mathfrak{b}\), the set \(\mathrm{Ass}_{R}(H^{i}_{\mathfrak{a}}(\mathfrak{b}))\) is finite if and only if \(\mathrm{Ass}_{R}(H^{i-1}_{\mathfrak{a}}(R/ \mathfrak{b}))\) is finite. The proof of this statement involves a novel generalization of an isomorphism of Hellus which may be of some independent interest. The finiteness comparison between \(\mathrm{Ass}_{R}(H^{i}_{\mathfrak{a}}(\mathfrak{b}))\) and \(\mathrm{Ass}_{R}(H^{i-1}_{\mathfrak{a}}(R/ \mathfrak{b}))\) tends to improve as the hypotheses on \(R/\mathfrak{b}\) become more restrictive. To illustrate the extreme end of this phenomenon, at least in the prime characteristic \(p\), the author shows that if \(R/\mathfrak{b}\) is regular, then \(\mathrm{Ass}_{R}(H^{i}_{\mathfrak{a}}(\mathfrak{b}))\) is finite for every \(i \geq 0\).