Lemma 10.62.1. Let R be a Noetherian ring, and let M be a finite R-module. There exists a filtration by R-submodules
such that each quotient M_ i/M_{i-1} is isomorphic to R/\mathfrak p_ i for some prime ideal \mathfrak p_ i of R.
Some basic results on the support and dimension of modules.
Lemma 10.62.1. Let R be a Noetherian ring, and let M be a finite R-module. There exists a filtration by R-submodules
such that each quotient M_ i/M_{i-1} is isomorphic to R/\mathfrak p_ i for some prime ideal \mathfrak p_ i of R.
First proof. By Lemma 10.5.4 it suffices to do the case M = R/I for some ideal I. Consider the set S of ideals J such that the lemma does not hold for the module R/J, and order it by inclusion. To arrive at a contradiction, assume that S is not empty. Because R is Noetherian, S has a maximal element J. By definition of S, the ideal J cannot be prime. Pick a, b\in R such that ab \in J, but neither a \in J nor b\in J. Consider the filtration 0 \subset aR/(J \cap aR) \subset R/J. Note that both the submodule aR/(J \cap aR) and the quotient module (R/J)/(aR/(J \cap aR)) are cyclic modules; write them as R/J' and R/J'' so we have a short exact sequence 0 \to R/J' \to R/J \to R/J'' \to 0. The inclusion J \subset J' is strict as b \in J' and the inclusion J \subset J'' is strict as a \in J''. Hence by maximality of J, both R/J' and R/J'' have a filtration as above and hence so does R/J. Contradiction. \square
Second proof. For an R-module M we say P(M) holds if there exists a filtration as in the statement of the lemma. Observe that P is stable under extensions and holds for 0. By Lemma 10.5.4 it suffices to prove P(R/I) holds for every ideal I. If not then because R is Noetherian, there is a maximal counter example J. By Example 10.28.7 and Proposition 10.28.8 the ideal J is prime which is a contradiction. \square
Lemma 10.62.2. Let R, M, M_ i, \mathfrak p_ i as in Lemma 10.62.1. Then \text{Supp}(M) = \bigcup V(\mathfrak p_ i) and in particular \mathfrak p_ i \in \text{Supp}(M).
Proof. This follows from Lemmas 10.40.5 and 10.40.9. \square
Lemma 10.62.3. Suppose that R is a Noetherian local ring with maximal ideal \mathfrak m. Let M be a nonzero finite R-module. Then \text{Supp}(M) = \{ \mathfrak m\} if and only if M has finite length over R.
Proof. Assume that \text{Supp}(M) = \{ \mathfrak m\} . It suffices to show that all the primes \mathfrak p_ i in the filtration of Lemma 10.62.1 are the maximal ideal. This is clear by Lemma 10.62.2.
Suppose that M has finite length over R. Then \mathfrak m^ n M = 0 by Lemma 10.52.4. Since some element of \mathfrak m maps to a unit in R_{\mathfrak p} for any prime \mathfrak p \not= \mathfrak m in R we see M_{\mathfrak p} = 0. \square
Lemma 10.62.4. Let R be a Noetherian ring. Let I \subset R be an ideal. Let M be a finite R-module. Then I^ nM = 0 for some n \geq 0 if and only if \text{Supp}(M) \subset V(I).
Proof. Indeed, I^ nM = 0 is equivalent to I^ n \subset \text{Ann}(M). Since R is Noetherian, this is equivalent to I \subset \sqrt{\text{Ann}(M)}, see Lemma 10.32.5. This in turn is equivalent to V(I) \supset V(\text{Ann}(M)), see Lemma 10.17.2. By Lemma 10.40.5 this is equivalent to V(I) \supset \text{Supp}(M). \square
Lemma 10.62.5. Let R, M, M_ i, \mathfrak p_ i as in Lemma 10.62.1. The minimal elements of the set \{ \mathfrak p_ i\} are the minimal elements of \text{Supp}(M). The number of times a minimal prime \mathfrak p occurs is
Proof. The first statement follows because \text{Supp}(M) = \bigcup V(\mathfrak p_ i), see Lemma 10.62.2. Let \mathfrak p \in \text{Supp}(M) be minimal. The support of M_{\mathfrak p} is the set consisting of the maximal ideal \mathfrak p R_{\mathfrak p}. Hence by Lemma 10.62.3 the length of M_{\mathfrak p} is finite and > 0. Next we note that M_{\mathfrak p} has a filtration with subquotients (R/\mathfrak p_ i)_{\mathfrak p} = R_{\mathfrak p}/{\mathfrak p_ i}R_{\mathfrak p} . These are zero if \mathfrak p_ i \not\subset \mathfrak p and equal to \kappa (\mathfrak p) if \mathfrak p_ i \subset \mathfrak p because by minimality of \mathfrak p we have \mathfrak p_ i = \mathfrak p in this case. The result follows since \kappa (\mathfrak p) has length 1. \square
Lemma 10.62.6. Let R be a Noetherian local ring. Let M be a finite R-module. Then d(M) = \dim (\text{Supp}(M)) where d(M) is as in Definition 10.59.8.
Proof. Let M_ i, \mathfrak p_ i be as in Lemma 10.62.1. By Lemma 10.59.10 we obtain the equality d(M) = \max \{ d(R/\mathfrak p_ i) \} . By Proposition 10.60.9 we have d(R/\mathfrak p_ i) = \dim (R/\mathfrak p_ i). Trivially \dim (R/\mathfrak p_ i) = \dim V(\mathfrak p_ i). Since all minimal primes of \text{Supp}(M) occur among the \mathfrak p_ i (Lemma 10.62.5) we win. \square
Lemma 10.62.7. Let R be a Noetherian ring. Let 0 \to M' \to M \to M'' \to 0 be a short exact sequence of finite R-modules. Then \max \{ \dim (\text{Supp}(M')), \dim (\text{Supp}(M''))\} = \dim (\text{Supp}(M)).
Proof. If R is local, this follows immediately from Lemmas 10.62.6 and 10.59.10. A more elementary argument, which works also if R is not local, is to use that \text{Supp}(M'), \text{Supp}(M''), and \text{Supp}(M) are closed (Lemma 10.40.5) and that \text{Supp}(M) = \text{Supp}(M') \cup \text{Supp}(M'') (Lemma 10.40.9). \square
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