A Skolem–Mahler–Lech Theorem for Iterated Automorphisms ofK–algebras

Abstract: This paper proves a commutative algebraic extension of a generalized Skolem-Mahler-Lech theorem due to the first author. Let

A

be a finitely generated commutative

K

-algebra over a field of characteristic

0

, and let

s i g m a

be a

K

-algebra automorphism of

A

. Given ideals

I

and

J

of

A

, we show that the set

S

of integers

m

such that

s i g m a^{m} (I) s u p s e t e q J

is a finite union of complete doubly infinite arithmetic progressions in

m

, up to the addition of a finite set. Alternatively, this result states that for an affine scheme

X

of finite type over

K

, an automorphism

s i g m a i n {m A u t}_{K} (X)

, and

Y

and

Z

any two closed subschemes of

X

, the set of integers

m

with

s i g m a^{m} (Z) s u b s e t e q Y

is as above. The paper presents examples showing that this result may fail to hold if the affine scheme

X

is not of finite type, or if

X

is of finite type but the field

K

has positive characteristic.

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