An algorithm for computing the integral closure (Q5906275)

Finding efficient algorithms for computing the integral closure of a commutative noetherian ring \(R\) is one of the big challenges of computational algebra. The paper under review contains an algorithm that is based on a result by Grauert and Remmert, which has as a consequence the fact that, if \(I\subset R\) is a radical ideal which contains a non-zero divisor, then \(R\) is normal if and only if \(R=\Hom_R(I,I)\). Several known criteria for normality used in existing algorithms are special cases of this. The algorithm terminates if the normalization is finitely generated as an \(R\)-module, e.g., for affine rings. It has been implemented in MACAULAY and SINGULAR.