Density functions for epsilon multiplicity and families of ideals (Q6986626)

The authors continues with a new aspect of the study of an ideal in terms of their powers and its asymptotic nature as initiated by the third author in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 370, No. 12, 8403--8428 (2018; Zbl 1400.13019)]. Let \((R,\mathfrak{m})\) denote a \(d\)-dimensional local ring. For an ideal \(I \subset R\) it is of some importance to study the asymptotic behaviour of the powers \(I^n\) of \(I\). One such example is the epsilon multiplicity \(\epsilon(I) = \limsup_{n \to \infty} \frac{\ell_A(\tilde{I^n}/I^n)}{n^d/d!}\), where \(\tilde{I^n}\) denotes the saturation of \(I^n\). A density function for a given invariant (e.g. \(\epsilon\)), is an integrable function \(f_{\epsilon} : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) that gives a new measure \(\mu_{f_\epsilon}\) such that \(\int f_\epsilon\) on a \(E \subset \mathbb{R}\) is the measure of the invariant \(\epsilon\) on \(E\). \N\NThe notion of density function, though seemingly complicated, keeps track of the behaviour of the `original' invariant in more than one way, in particular its asymptotic nature. Also it carries information about other related invariants.The notion of density function was successfully used by the third author (see [Math. Res. Lett. 27, No. 6, 1885--1895 (2020; Zbl 1457.13011); Adv. Math. 430, Article ID 109207, 63 p. (2023; Zbl 1536.13013)]) in order to get results and to answer two long-standing questions about Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity. Let \(A\) denote a standard graded finitely generated algebra over a field \(k\) which is a domain of dimension \(\geq 2\). Let \(\{I_n\}\) denote a Noetherian filtration of homogeneous ideals of \(A\). Then the authors define the function \(f_{A,\{I_n\}} = \limsup_{n \to \infty} \frac{\ell_k((I_n)_{\lfloor xn\rfloor})}{n^{d-1}/d!}\). As a consequence, they get a density function \(f_\epsilon(I)\) for the epsilon multiplicity \(\epsilon(I)\) of a homogeneous ideal \(I\). \N\NIt is shown that the function \(f_{A,\{I_n\}} \) has the following properties: (1) It is continuous everywhere except possibly at one point. (2) It is continuously differentiable except possibly at one point. -- As a corollary it follows that the density function \(f_{\epsilon(I)}\) is continuously differentiable on \(\mathbb{R}\) except possibly at one point with \(\int_{\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}} f_{\epsilon(I)} = \epsilon(I)\). The function for \(\{I^n\}, \{\tilde{I^n}\}\) and \(\epsilon(I)\) remain invariant under passage to the integral closure of \(I\). Moreover, the authors observe that the `rescaled' Hilbert-Samuel multiplicities of the diagonal subalgebras form a continuous family. Besides of these the paper contains more interesting results inspiring also for further research.