An abelian category of cofinite modules (Q6847018)

Let \(R\) be a commutative noetherian ring, \(\mathfrak{a}\) an ideal of \(R\), and \(M\) an \(R\)-module. For any \(i \geq 0\), the \(i\)th local cohomology module of \(M\) with respect to \(\mathfrak{a}\) is given by \N\[\NH^{i}_{\mathfrak{a}}(M) \cong \underset{n\geq 1}\varinjlim \mathrm{Ext}^{i}_{R}\left(R/ \mathfrak{a}^{n},M\right).\N\]\NHartshorne defined an \(R\)-module \(M\) to be \(\mathfrak{a}\)-cofinite if \(\mathrm{Supp}_{R}(M)\subseteq \mathrm{Var}(\mathfrak{a})\) and \(\mathrm{Ext}^{i}_{R}\left(R/ \mathfrak{a},M\right)\) is a finitely generated \(R\)-module for every \(i\geq 0\).\N\NNow let \((R,\mathfrak{m})\) be local, and suppose that \(Ht\left(\frac{\mathfrak{a}\widehat{R}^{\mathfrak{m}}+\mathfrak{p}}{\mathfrak{p}}\right)\leq 1\) for every \(\mathfrak{p}\in \mathrm{Spec}\left(\widehat{R}^{\mathfrak{m}}\right)\). In this paper, the authors show that the category of \(\mathfrak{a}\)-cofinite \(R\)-modules forms an abelian subcategory of the category of all \(R\)-modules. This assertion provides a partially affirmative answer to a question raised by Hartshorne.