The Stacks project

51.9 Depth and dimension

Some helper lemmas.

Lemma 51.9.1. Let $A$ be a Noetherian ring. Let $I \subset A$ be an ideal. Let $M$ be a finite $A$-module. Let $\mathfrak p \in V(I)$ be a prime ideal. Assume $e = \text{depth}_{IA_\mathfrak p}(M_\mathfrak p) < \infty $. Then there exists a nonempty open $U \subset V(\mathfrak p)$ such that $\text{depth}_{IA_\mathfrak q}(M_\mathfrak q) \geq e$ for all $\mathfrak q \in U$.

Proof. By definition of depth we have $IM_\mathfrak p \not= M_\mathfrak p$ and there exists an $M_\mathfrak p$-regular sequence $f_1, \ldots , f_ e \in IA_\mathfrak p$. After replacing $A$ by a principal localization we may assume $f_1, \ldots , f_ e \in I$ form an $M$-regular sequence, see Algebra, Lemma 10.68.6. Consider the module $M' = M/IM$. Since $\mathfrak p \in \text{Supp}(M')$ and since the support of a finite module is closed, we find $V(\mathfrak p) \subset \text{Supp}(M')$. Thus for $\mathfrak q \in V(\mathfrak p)$ we get $IM_\mathfrak q \not= M_\mathfrak q$. Hence, using that localization is exact, we see that $\text{depth}_{IA_\mathfrak q}(M_\mathfrak q) \geq e$ for any $\mathfrak q \in V(I)$ by definition of depth. $\square$

Lemma 51.9.2. Let $A$ be a Noetherian ring. Let $M$ be a finite $A$-module. Let $\mathfrak p$ be a prime ideal. Assume $e = \text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak p}(M_\mathfrak p) < \infty $. Then there exists a nonempty open $U \subset V(\mathfrak p)$ such that $\text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak q}(M_\mathfrak q) \geq e$ for all $\mathfrak q \in U$ and for all but finitely many $\mathfrak q \in U$ we have $\text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak q}(M_\mathfrak q) > e$.

Proof. By definition of depth we have $\mathfrak p M_\mathfrak p \not= M_\mathfrak p$ and there exists an $M_\mathfrak p$-regular sequence $f_1, \ldots , f_ e \in \mathfrak p A_\mathfrak p$. After replacing $A$ by a principal localization we may assume $f_1, \ldots , f_ e \in \mathfrak p$ form an $M$-regular sequence, see Algebra, Lemma 10.68.6. Consider the module $M' = M/(f_1, \ldots , f_ e)M$. Since $\mathfrak p \in \text{Supp}(M')$ and since the support of a finite module is closed, we find $V(\mathfrak p) \subset \text{Supp}(M')$. Thus for $\mathfrak q \in V(\mathfrak p)$ we get $\mathfrak q M_\mathfrak q \not= M_\mathfrak q$. Hence, using that localization is exact, we see that $\text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak q}(M_\mathfrak q) \geq e$ for any $\mathfrak q \in V(I)$ by definition of depth. Moreover, as soon as $\mathfrak q$ is not an associated prime of the module $M'$, then the depth goes up. Thus we see that the final statement holds by Algebra, Lemma 10.63.5. $\square$

Lemma 51.9.3. Let $X$ be a Noetherian scheme with dualizing complex $\omega _ X^\bullet $. Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a coherent $\mathcal{O}_ X$-module. Let $k \geq 0$ be an integer. Assume $\mathcal{F}$ is $(S_ k)$. Then there is a finite number of points $x \in X$ such that

\[ \text{depth}(\mathcal{F}_ x) = k \quad \text{and}\quad \dim (\text{Supp}(\mathcal{F}_ x)) > k \]

Proof. We will prove this lemma by induction on $k$. The base case $k = 0$ says that $\mathcal{F}$ has a finite number of embedded associated points, which follows from Divisors, Lemma 31.2.5.

Assume $k > 0$ and the result holds for all smaller $k$. We can cover $X$ by finitely many affine opens, hence we may assume $X = \mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(A)$ is affine. Then $\mathcal{F}$ is the coherent $\mathcal{O}_ X$-module associated to a finite $A$-module $M$ which satisfies $(S_ k)$. We will use Algebra, Lemmas 10.63.10 and 10.72.7 without further mention.

Let $f \in A$ be a nonzerodivisor on $M$. Then $M/fM$ has $(S_{k - 1})$. By induction we see that there are finitely many primes $\mathfrak p \in V(f)$ with $\text{depth}((M/fM)_\mathfrak p) = k - 1$ and $\dim (\text{Supp}((M/fM)_\mathfrak p)) > k - 1$. These are exactly the primes $\mathfrak p \in V(f)$ with $\text{depth}(M_\mathfrak p) = k$ and $\dim (\text{Supp}(M_\mathfrak p)) > k$. Thus we may replace $A$ by $A_ f$ and $M$ by $M_ f$ in trying to prove the finiteness statement.

Since $M$ satisfies $(S_ k)$ and $k > 0$ we see that $M$ has no embedded associated primes (Algebra, Lemma 10.157.2). Thus $\text{Ass}(M)$ is the set of generic points of the support of $M$. Thus Dualizing Complexes, Lemma 47.20.4 shows the set $U = \{ \mathfrak q \mid M_\mathfrak q\text{ is Cohen-Macaulay}\} $ is an open containing $\text{Ass}(M)$. By prime avoidance (Algebra, Lemma 10.15.2) we can pick $f \in A$ with $f \not\in \mathfrak p$ for $\mathfrak p \in \text{Ass}(M)$ such that $D(f) \subset U$. Then $f$ is a nonzerodivisor on $M$ (Algebra, Lemma 10.63.9). After replacing $A$ by $A_ f$ and $M$ by $M_ f$ (see above) we find that $M$ is Cohen-Macaulay. Thus for all $\mathfrak q \subset A$ we have $\dim (M_\mathfrak q) = \text{depth}(M_\mathfrak q)$ and hence the set described in the lemma is empty and a fortiori finite. $\square$

Lemma 51.9.4. Let $(A, \mathfrak m)$ be a Noetherian local ring with normalized dualizing complex $\omega _ A^\bullet $. Let $M$ be a finite $A$-module. Set $E^ i = \text{Ext}_ A^{-i}(M, \omega _ A^\bullet )$. Then

  1. $E^ i$ is a finite $A$-module nonzero only for $0 \leq i \leq \dim (\text{Supp}(M))$,

  2. $\dim (\text{Supp}(E^ i)) \leq i$,

  3. $\text{depth}(M)$ is the smallest integer $\delta \geq 0$ such that $E^\delta \not= 0$,

  4. $\mathfrak p \in \text{Supp}(E^0 \oplus \ldots \oplus E^ i) \Leftrightarrow \text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak p}(M_\mathfrak p) + \dim (A/\mathfrak p) \leq i$,

  5. the annihilator of $E^ i$ is equal to the annihilator of $H^ i_\mathfrak m(M)$.

Proof. Parts (1), (2), and (3) are copies of the statements in Dualizing Complexes, Lemma 47.16.5. For a prime $\mathfrak p$ of $A$ we have that $(\omega _ A^\bullet )_\mathfrak p[-\dim (A/\mathfrak p)]$ is a normalized dualzing complex for $A_\mathfrak p$. See Dualizing Complexes, Lemma 47.17.3. Thus

\[ E^ i_\mathfrak p = \text{Ext}^{-i}_ A(M, \omega _ A^\bullet )_\mathfrak p = \text{Ext}^{-i + \dim (A/\mathfrak p)}_{A_\mathfrak p} (M_\mathfrak p, (\omega _ A^\bullet )_\mathfrak p[-\dim (A/\mathfrak p)]) \]

is zero for $i - \dim (A/\mathfrak p) < \text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak p}(M_\mathfrak p)$ and nonzero for $i = \dim (A/\mathfrak p) + \text{depth}_{A_\mathfrak p}(M_\mathfrak p)$ by part (3) over $A_\mathfrak p$. This proves part (4). If $E$ is an injective hull of the residue field of $A$, then we have

\[ \mathop{\mathrm{Hom}}\nolimits _ A(H^ i_\mathfrak m(M), E) = \text{Ext}^{-i}_ A(M, \omega _ A^\bullet )^\wedge = (E^ i)^\wedge = E^ i \otimes _ A A^\wedge \]

by the local duality theorem (in the form of Dualizing Complexes, Lemma 47.18.4). Since $A \to A^\wedge $ is faithfully flat, we find (5) is true by Matlis duality (Dualizing Complexes, Proposition 47.7.8). $\square$


Comments (0)


Post a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked.

In your comment you can use Markdown and LaTeX style mathematics (enclose it like $\pi$). A preview option is available if you wish to see how it works out (just click on the eye in the toolbar).

Unfortunately JavaScript is disabled in your browser, so the comment preview function will not work.

All contributions are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.




In order to prevent bots from posting comments, we would like you to prove that you are human. You can do this by filling in the name of the current tag in the following input field. As a reminder, this is tag 0DWW. Beware of the difference between the letter 'O' and the digit '0'.