Group actions on rings and the Čech complex (Q390730)

\textit{D. Karagueuzian} and the author [J. Am. Math. Soc. 20, No. 4, 931-967 (2007; Zbl 1138.13004)] have previously shown that, when a finite group \(G\) acts on a polynomial ring \(S = k[x_1, \dots , x_n]\) over a finite field \(k\) by homogeneous linear transformations, only finitely many isomorphism classes of indecomposable \(kG\)-modules occur as summands of \(S\). They have also shown that the regularity of the invariant subring \(S^G\) is at most zero, which has various important consequences: for example, \(S^G\) is generated in degrees at most \(n(|G|-1)\) (provided \(n, |G| \geq 2\)). In the article under review the author reproves these results using a simpler, more conceptual method, based on considering the Čech complex associated to \(S\) and showing that it is split exact over \(kG\) in degrees greater than \(-n\).