Symbolic Rees algebras and set-theoretic complete intersections (Q6162856)

\textit{R. C. Cowsik} [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 91, 13--14 (1984; Zbl 0562.13002)] proved the following theorem: Let \((R, {\mathfrak m})\) be a Noetherian local ring of dimension \(d\) and \(\mathbf{a}\not ={\mathfrak m} \) a radical ideal. If the symbolic Rees algebra of \(\mathbf{a}\), \({\mathcal R}_{s}(\mathbf{a}) := \bigoplus_{n \geq 0} \mathbf{a}^{(n)}\) is Noetherian, then \(\mathbf{a}\) is the radical of an ideal generated by \(d-1\) elements. In particular, if \(\mathbf{a}\) has height \(d-1\), then it is a set-theoretic complete intersection. In the paper under review the authors prove a generalization of this result. Namely they prove that for \((R,{\mathfrak m})\) a local ring of dimension \(d\geq 1\) with infinite residue field \(k\), for \(\mathbf{a}\) an ideal of height \(h\) with \(1 \leq h \leq d-1\) such that \(R/\mathbf{a}^{(m)}\) is Cohen-Macaulay for large \(m\) and \({\mathcal R}_s(\mathbf{a})\) is Noetherian, there exist \(x_1,\ldots, x_{d-h},\) a system of parameters for \(R/\mathbf{a},\) and \(f_i\in {\mathbf{a}}^{(k_i)}\) for \(i=1,2,\ldots, h\) such that \begin{itemize} \item[1.] \(x_1,\ldots ,x_{d-h}\) is a regular sequence in \(R\). \item[2.] \(x_1,\ldots ,x_{d-h},f_1,\ldots ,f_h\) is a system of parameters for \(R\). \item[3.] If the set of minimal associated primes (\text{minass}) of \( (R/\mathbf{a})\) is \(\{P_1,\ldots ,P_s\}\), then \[ e_{(x_1,\ldots ,x_{d-h},f_1,\ldots ,f_h)}(R)=\left ( {\prod_{j=1}^{h}k_j}\right ){\sum_{i=1}^se_{\mathbf{a} R_{P_i}}(R_{P_i})e_{(x_1,\ldots ,x_{d-h})}(R/P_i)}.\] \end{itemize} The authors prove also the converse. Remind that a quasi-unmixed ring is a Noetherian ring \(R\), such that for each prime ideal \(p\), the completion of the localization \(R_p\) is equidimensional. Let \((R,{\mathfrak m})\) be a quasi-unmixed local ring of dimension \(d\geq 1\). Let \(\mathbf{a}\) be an ideal of height \(h\) with \(1 \leq h \leq d-1\) and \(\text{minass} (R/\mathbf{a})=\{P_1,\ldots ,P_s\}\) such that \(\text{height} P_i=h\) for all \(i=1,\ldots ,s\). If there exist \(x_1,\ldots, x_{d-h}\) a system of parameters of \(R/\mathbf{a}\) and \( f_i\in\mathbf{a}^{(k_i)}\) such that conditions \(1.\), \(2.\) and \(3.\) of the previous result are satisfied, then \({\mathcal R}_s(\mathbf{a})\) is Noetherian. Using this, the authors are able to show that the symbolic Rees algebra of \(\mathbf{a}\) is Noetherian and \(\mathbf{a}\) is set-theoretic complete intersections if \(\mathbf{a}\) is the edge ideal of a complete graph, or the Fermat ideal, or the Jacobian ideal of a certain hyperplane arrangement (see [\textit{J. Migliore} et al., Int. Math. Res. Not. 2022, No. 1, 18941--18971 (2022; Zbl 1478.14080)]).