No label defined (Q4948282)

The paper is a report of the author's joint work with \textit{K.-i. Watanabe} [J. Algebra 230, No. 1, 295--317 (2000; Zbl 0964.13008)]. The Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity \(e_{HK}(I)\) of an \(\mathfrak m\)-primary ideal \(I\) of a local Noetherian \(d\)-dimensional ring \((A, \mathfrak m)\) of prime characteristic \(p > 0\) is defined as \(\lim \lambda_A(A/I^{[q]})/q^d,\) where \(q = p^e\) and \(I^{[q]} = (a^q |a \in I)A.\) It is known that \(e_{HK}(I) \geq e_{HK}(\mathfrak m) \geq 1\) and \(e(I)/d! \leq e_{HK}(I) \leq e(I),\) where \(e(I)\) denotes the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity of \(I.\) The main part of the paper is concerned with the following problem: Is there a constant \(\alpha > 0\) depending only on \(d\) such that \(e_{HK}(I) \geq e(I)/d! + \alpha ?\) It is shown that \(e_{HK}(I) \geq{1\over 2}(e(I) + 1)\) in the case of \(d = 2.\) Moreover the inequality is strict whenever \(A\) is not Cohen-Macaulay and unmixed. The picture is completed by results about two-dimensional local rings with small Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity.