On the Chern number of a filtration

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Publication:2389063



Abstract: We study the first Hilbert coefficient (after the multiplicity) e1 of a local ring (A,m). Under various circumstances, it is also called the {�f Chern number} of the local ring A. Starting from the work of D.G. Northcott in the 60's, several results have been proved which give some relationships between the Hilbert coefficients, but always assuming the Cohen-Macaulayness of the basic ring. Recent papers of S. Goto, K. Nishida, A. Corso and W. Vasconcelos pushed the interest toward a more general setting. In this paper we extend an upper bound on e1 proved by S. Huckaba and T. Marley. Thus we get the Cohen-Macaulayness of the ring A as a consequence of the extremal behavior of the integer e1. The result can be considered a confirm of the general philosophy of the paper of W. Vasconcelos where the Chern number is conjectured to be a measure of the distance from the Cohen-Macaulyness of A. This main result of the paper is a consequence of a nice and perhaps unexpected property of superficial elements. It is essentially a kind of "Sally machine" for local rings. In the last section we describe an application of these results, concerning an upper bound on the multiplicity of the Sally module of a good filtration of a module which is not necessarily Cohen-Macaulay. It is an extension to the non Cohen-Macaulay case of a result of Vaz Pinto.


Let \((A,m)\) ba a noetherian local ring, \(Q\) an \(m\)-primary ideal and \(M\) a finitely generated \(A\)-module. Let also \(\mathbb{M}=(M_j)\) be a good \(Q\)-filtration and \(a_1,\dots,a_d\) be a \(\mathbb{M}\)-superficial sequence for \(Q.\) If we denote by \(J:=(a_1,\dots,a_d)\), we have that \(\mathbb{N}:=\{J_jM\}\) is a good \(J\)-filtration for \(M.\) Let also \(v_j(\mathbb{M}):=l(M_{j+1}/JM_j).\) The authors are studying the second coefficient of the Hilbert function of \(\mathbb{M},\) denoted by \(e_1(\mathbb{M})\) and called the Chern number of \(\mathbb{M}.\) The first result shows that if \(\dim(M)=d\geq 1\) and \((a_1,\dots,a_d)\) is a maximal sequence of \(\mathbb{M}-\)superficial elements, then \(e_1(\mathbb{M})-e_1(\mathbb{N})\leq\mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq 0}v_j(\mathbb{M}).\) Then they study the cases when the above inequality becomes equality. If \(M\) is Cohen-Macaulay, it is shown that \(e_1(\mathbb{M})\leq \mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq 0}v_j(\mathbb{M})\) and that \(e_1(\mathbb{M})= \mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq 0}v_j(\mathbb{M})\) if and only if depth\((gr_{\mathbb{M}}(M))\geq d-1\) if and only if \(e_i(M)=\mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq i-1}\binom{j}{i-1}v_j(\mathbb{M}),\;\forall i\geq 1\) if and only if \(P_{\mathbb{M}}(z)=\frac{l(M/M_1)+\mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq 0}(v_j(\mathbb{M})-v_{j+1}(\mathbb{M}))}{(1-z)^d}z^{j+1},\) where \(P_{\mathbb{M}}\) is the Hilbert series of \(\mathbb{M}.\) If \(M\) is not Cohen-Macaulay, one has to restrict to the \(m\)-adic filtration and in this case it is shown that \(e_1(m)-e_1(J)=\mathop\sum\limits_{j\geq 0}v_j(m)\) if and only if \(A\) is Cohen-Macaulay and depth\((gr_m(A))\geq d-1.\) Some applications to the Sally module are given.











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