Higher Nash blowup on normal toric varieties (Q406353)

Let \(X\) be a \(d\)-dimensional algebraic variety over an algebraically closed field \(k\). To a closed point \(x \in X\) we may associate the scheme \([x^{(n)}]={\text{Spec}}({\mathcal O}_{X,x}/{{\mathcal M}_{X,x}}^{n+1})\), viewed as a closed subscheme of \(X\) concentrated at \(x\). This corresponds to a point of \(\mathrm{Hilb}_N(X)\), where \(N=\binom{d+n}{d}\), and the mapping sending a regular closed point \(x\) of \(X\) to \([x^{(n)}]\) determines a morphism \(\delta _n:X_{sm} \to \mathrm{Hilb}_N(X)\). The closure of the graph of \(\delta_n\) in \(X \times \mathrm{Hilb}_N(X)\) is called the \textit{\(n\)-th Nash blowup} of \(X\), denoted by \(\mathrm{Nash}_n(X)\). There is an induced projection \(\pi_n:\mathrm{Nash}_n(X) \to X\), which is projective, birational and an isomorphism over \(X_{sm}\). For \(n=1\) this is the usual Nash blowup, which may be defined more elementarily using tangent spaces and Grassmannians. In the paper under review, Duarte obtains several interesting results about \(\mathrm{Nash}_n(X)\) in case \(X\) is a suitable toric variety and the characteristic of \(k\) is zero. More precisely, let \(X\) be the irreducible, normal affine toric variety associated to a \(d\)-dimensional strictly convex rational polyhedron \(\sigma \subset {\mathbb R}^d\). The affine algebra of \(X\) is isomorphic to \(R=k[x^{a_1}, \dots, x_s^{a_s}]\), where we write \(a_i=(a_{i_1}, \dots, a_{i_s}) \in {\mathbb N}^s\) and \(x^{a_i}=x_1^{a_{i_1}} \dots x_s^{a_{i_s}}\), for suitable integers \(s, a_{i_1}, \dots, a_{i_s}\). The author shows that to an ideal \(I \subset k[x^{a_1}, \dots, x^{a_s}]\) one may associate a certain fan in \({\mathbb R}^d\), called the Gröbner fan of \(I\) (in its construction one uses Gröbner bases techniques). Duarte proves that if \(X\) is a toric variety as above (corresponding to the cone \(\sigma\)) then for any \(n\) the \(n\)-th Nash blowup \(B_n\) of \(X\), as well as its normalization \(\bar{B_n}\), are again toric varieties. Moreover, \(\bar{B_n}\) is the normal toric variety corresponding to the Gröbner fan of the ideal \(( x^{a_1}-1, \dots, x^{a_s}-1) k[x^{a_1}, \dots, x^{a_s}]\). He also shows that if \(X\) is as above (i.e., associated to the cone \(\sigma\))then the natural projection \(B_n=\mathrm{Nash} _n (X) \to X\) is an isomorphism if and only if \(X\) is smooth. The analogous result for \(X\) a curve and \(n=1\) (the usual Nash blowup) has been known since the mid 1970's. He proves his theorem by first noticing that it easily follows from the similar statement where \(B_n\) is substituted by its normalization \(\bar{B_n}\). Then he uses his characterization of \(\bar{B_n}\) in terms of a Gröbner basis, and verifies that if \(X\) is singular the fan of this basis must be a strict subdivision of the cone \(\sigma\). This is done by using results on reduced Gröbner bases in this context of monomial subalgebras of polynomial rings. The paper is very well written.