Integrally closed almost complete intersection ideals (Q855738)

Let \((A,m)\) be a local ring of dimension \(d\). If \(I\) is an ideal of \(A\), then \(\mu(I)\) denotes the minimal number of generators of \(I\). If \(\mu(I)=d+1\) and \(I\) is \(m\)-primary then \(I\) is said to be an almost complete intersection. In this article the author studies the structure of integrally closed almost complete intersection ideals. The author shows that this kind of ideals exist if and only if the maximal ideal of \(A\) is minimally generated by almost \(d+1\) elements. The structure of integrally closed complete intersection ideals was studied by \textit{S. Goto} [J. Algebra 108, 151--160 (1987; Zbl 0629.13004)]. As in Goto's article, the notion of \(m\)-full ideal plays a central role in the problems studied in the article under review. There are two main results in the article. The first one states that if \((A,m)\) is a regular local ring of dimension \(d\geq 2\) containing a field and \(I\) is an integrally closed almost complete intersection ideal, then the ring \(\mathcal R=\bigoplus_{n\geq 0}I^nt^n\) is a Cohen-Macaulay normal domain and the associated ring \(\mathcal G=\bigoplus_{n\geq 0}I^n/I^{n+1}\) is a Cohen-Macaulay ring with \(a(\mathcal G)=d-1\), where \(a(\mathcal G)\) denotes the \(a\)-invariant of \(\mathcal G\) (see the book of \textit{W. V. Vasconcelos} [``Arithmetic of blowup algebras.'' London Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 195 (1994; Zbl 0813.13008)] for the definition of this invariant). The second main result states that if \((A,m)\) is a \(d\)-dimensional local ring with infinite residue field and \(I\) is an integrally closed complete intersection ideal, then there exists a minimal set of generators \(x,a_1,\dots, a_d\) for \(m\) such that either (1) \(I=(x^{i+1}, a_1,\dots, a_d)\), with \(x^i\notin \overline{\langle a_1,\dots, a_d\rangle}\), or (2) \(m^2=m(x, a_1,\dots, a_{d-1})\) and \(I=(x^{i+1}, a_1,\dots, a_{d-1},z)\), for some element \(z\in (x, a_1,\dots, a_{d-1})\). Also, any ideal of type (1) is integrally closed. In particular, if the reduction number \(r(m)\) is at least \(2\), then \(I\) is integrally closed of and only if \(I\) is of the type (1) described above.