Vector fields and a family of linear type modules related to free divisors (Q640925)

The paper is an investigation on modules of algebraic vector fields related with reduced algebraic varieties over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. The authors begins by explaining how to compute the module of vector fields tangent to a given affine algebraic variety. Then for two (affine or projective) algebraic varieties \(V\subset W\), the author considers the module \(\mathcal{T}(V,W)\) of vector fields whose restriction to \(V\) is tangent to \(W\). Following \textit{A. Simis, B. Ulrich} and \textit{W. V. Vasconcelos} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 87, No. 3, 610--646 (2003; Zbl 1099.13008)], a module is said to be of linear type if its Rees algebra is isomorphic to its symmetric algebra. Let \(F\) be a quasi-homogeneous free divisor (in the sense of \textit{K. Saito} [J. Fac. Sci., Univ. Tokyo, Sect. I A 27, 265--291 (1980; Zbl 0496.32007)]), together with its Jacobian ideal \(G_F\). Let \(V\subset F\) be a variety with defining ideal \(I_V\) such that the ideal \(G_F\cap I_V\) is of linear type. Then it is proved that \(\mathcal{T}(V,F)\) is of linear type. In the last section, for a pair \(V\subset H\) of projective varieties, with \(H\) a singular hypersurface such that \(V\) is not contained in \(\mathrm{Sing}\, H\), it is proved that the module \(\mathcal{T}(V,H)\) is free if and only if \(V\cap {Sing}\, H\) is an arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay variety of codimension \(2\). This result generalizes a known criterion for the freeness of the divisor \(H\). Note that each statement is illustrated by an example which makes use of the system \texttt{Macaulay} of D. Bayer and M. Stillman (available via anonymous ftp from math.harvard.edu).