Generalization of bi-canonical degrees (Q6116627)

Let \((R,\mathfrak m)\) be a local Cohen-Macaulay ring with canonical ideal \(\omega \subseteq R\). When \(\operatorname{dim}(R)=1\), the canonical and bi-canonical degrees of \(R\) are defined by \(\operatorname{cdeg}(R)=\lambda(\omega /(a))\) and \(\operatorname{bideg}(R)=\lambda(\omega^{**}/\omega)\), respectively, where \((a)\) is a minimal reduction of \(\omega\) and \(\omega^{**}\) is the bidual of \(\omega\). For higher dimension \(d \geq 1\), one can then define \(\operatorname{cdeg}(R)=\sum_{\operatorname{ht}(\mathfrak p)=1} \operatorname{cdeg}(R_{\mathfrak p}) \operatorname{deg}(R/\mathfrak{p})\) and \(\operatorname{bideg}(R)=\sum_{\operatorname{ht}(\mathfrak p)=1} \operatorname{bideg}(R_{\mathfrak p}) \operatorname{deg}(R/\mathfrak{p})\), where \(\operatorname{deg}(-)\) is the multiplicity associated with the \(\mathfrak m\)-adic filtration. A previous result of \textit{L. Ghezzi} et al. [J. Algebra 489, 506--528 (2017; Zbl 1387.13053)] shows that a local Cohen-Macaulay ring with canonical ideal is Gorenstein in codimension one if and only if \(\operatorname{cdeg}(R)=0\). Similarly, \textit{L. Ghezzi} et al. [J. Algebra 571, 55--74 (2021; Zbl 1455.13042)] proved that \(R\) is Gorenstein in codimension one if and only if \(\operatorname{bideg}(R)=0\). By generalizing the concept of bi-canonical degree, the latter result is extended in this paper to local Cohen-Macaulay rings with a canonical module. The authors also introduce the notion of a precanonical ideal \(\mathcal{P}\) for local Cohen-Macaulay rings that do not necessarily have a canonical module, define the bi-canonical degree of \(R\) relative to \(\mathcal{P}\) by \(\operatorname{bideg}_{\mathcal P} (R)=\operatorname{deg}(\mathcal{P}^{**}/\mathcal P)\), and ask how this new metric can be used to understand the structure of the ring.