Index of reducibility of parameter ideals and Cohen-Macaulay rings (Q404168)

Let \(R\) be a commutative Noetherian local ring with maximal ideal \({\mathbf m}\), \(M\) be a finitely generated \(R\)-module of dimension \(s >0\), \(N\) be an \(R\)-submodule of \(M\), and \(\mathcal{N}(N)\) be the index of reducibility of \(N\). For an ideal \(I\) of \(R\), let \(\mathcal{N}(I;M) = \mathcal{N}(IM)\). In [\textit{N. T. Cuong, P. H. Quy} and \textit{H. L. Truong}, ``On the index of reducibility of powers of an ideal'', in: Proc. of the 7-th Japan. Vietnam Joint Seminar on Commutative Algebra, QuyNhon 1--34 (2012)], it was shown that if \(I\) is an \({\mathbf m}\)-primary ideal, there exists a polynomial \(p_{I,M}(n)\) of degree \(s -1\) with rational coefficients such that for enough large \(n\), \(\mathcal{N}(I^n; M) = p_{I,M}(n)\), and thus there are integers \(f_i(I; M)\) such that \[ p_{I,M}(n) = \sum_{i=0}^{s-1} (-1)^if_i(I;M){n+s-1-i \choose s- 1 - i}. \] In this paper, among other things, the author prove the following: Theorem. Let \(R\) be a Noetherian local ring with maximal ideal \({\mathbf m}\), dim\(R = d >0\). Assume that \(R\) is unmixed, that is dim\((\hat{R}/{\mathbf p}) = d\) for all \({\mathbf p} \in\) Ass\((\hat{R})\), where \(\hat{R}\) is the \({\mathbf m}\)-adic completion of \(R\). Then the following statements are equivalent. (1) \(R\) is Cohen-Macaulay. (2) For all parameter ideals \({\mathbf q}\), \(\mathcal{N}({\mathbf q}^{n+1}; R) = {n+d-1 \choose d- 1}\mathcal{N}({\mathbf q};R)\) for all large enough \(n\). (3) For all parameter ideals \({\mathbf q}\), \(\mathcal{N}({\mathbf q}; R) = f_0({\mathbf q};R)\). (4) For all parameter ideals \({\mathbf q}\), \(\mathcal{N}({\mathbf q}; R) \leq f_0({\mathbf q};R)\). This gives a new characterization of Cohen-Macaulay rings via the index of reducibility of parameter ideals.