Canonical modules of Rees algebras (Q2570671)

Let \(R\) be a regular domain essentially of finite type over a field, and \(I\) an ideal of \(R\). Assume that the Rees algebra \(R(I)=\bigoplus_{n\geq 0} I^n\) is Cohen-Macaulay and normal. Let \(P_1,\dots, P_t\) be the divisorial prime ideals of \(IR(I)\) with \(IR(I)= \bigcap_{i=1} P^{(d_i)}_i\), and suppose that \(v_{P_i}\mid R= v_{p_i}\) with \(p_i= P_i\cap R\) (\(v_{P_i}\)'s are the Rees valuations of \(I\)). Then the main theorem states that a canonical module \(\omega_{R(I)}\) of \(R(I)\) has the class \[ \sum^t_{i=1} (d_i+ 1- \text{ht}(p_i)[P_i]= [IR(I)]+ \sum^t_{i=1} (1- \text{ht}(p_i)[P_i]. \] Moreover, \(R(I)\) is Gorenstein if and only if \(d_i= \text{ht}(p_i)- 1\) for all \(i= 1,\dots, t\). The proof uses the fact that the canonical module commutes with subintersections under certain conditions. The formula is applied to compute the canonical classes of certain determinantal rings.