Generalized local cohomology and the canonical element conjecture (Q2464529)

The canonical element conjecture (C.E.C.) says that if \((R,m)\) is a local \(n\)-dimensional ring then the canonical map \[ \text{Ext}^n_R(R/m, \text{Syz}_n(R/m))\to H^n_m(\text{Syz}_n(R/m)) \] is nonzero. In this paper more general maps are studied, namely the canonical maps \[ \vartheta_i: \text{Ext}^i_R(M/mM,S)\to H^i_m(M,S) \] where \(i\) is a natural number and \(M,S\) are finite \(R\)-modules. (Note that \(H^i_m(M,S)\) is a generalized local cohomology module. For \(M=R\) one gets local cohomology \(H^i_m(S)\).) A major result in this paper is: Let \((R,m)\) be a local ring of dimension \(n\) and depth \(n-1\). If \(R\) is a counterexample to the C.~E.~C., then for all \(i>n\), all finite \(R\)-modules \(S\) and certain finite \(R\)-modules \(M\), the map \(\vartheta_i\) is zero. Therefore, study of the condition ``\(\vartheta_i\) is nonzero'' could lead to a proof of the C. E. C. It is shown that if \(R\) is not regular and \(i>0\), then there exists a finite \(R\)-module \(M\) such that \[ \text{Ext}^i_R(M/mM, \text{Syz}_i(M/mM))\to H^i_m(M, \text{Syz}_i(M/mM)) \] is nonzero. It is also shown that the non-vanishing of a canonical map \[ \text{Ext}^i_R(R/m, \text{Syz}_i(R/m))\to H^i_m( \text{Syz}_i(R/m)) \] for some fixed \(i\) implies that all maps \[ \text{Ext}^i_R(M/mM, \text{Syz}_i(N/mN))\to H^i_m(M, \text{Syz}_i(N/mN)) \] are nonzero, where \(M,N\) are finite \(R\)-modules.