Test ideals were first introduced by Mel Hochster and Craig Huneke in their celebrated theory of tight closure, and since their invention have been closely tied to the theory of Frobenius splittings. Subsequently, test ideals have also found application far beyond their original scope to questions arising in complex analytic geometry. In this paper we give a contemporary survey of test ideals and their wide-ranging applications.
The generalized test ideals introduced in [HY] are related to multiplier ideals via reduction to characteristic p. In addition, they satisfy many of the subtle properties of the multiplier ideals, which in characteristic zero follow via vanishing theorems. In this note we give several examples to emphasize the different behavior of test ideals and multiplier ideals. Our main result is that every ideal in an F-finite regular local ring can be written as a generalized test ideal. We also prove the semicontinuity of $F$-pure thresholds (though the analogue of the Generic Restriction Theorem for m…
We provide a formula to compute the big Cohen-Macaulay test ideal for triples $((R,Δ),\mathfrak{a}^{t})$ where $R$ is a mixed characteristic toric ring and $\mathfrak{a}$ is a monomial ideal. Of particular interest is that this result is consistent with the formulas for test ideals in positive characteristic and multiplier ideals in characteristic zero.
We introduce the notion of strong test module and show that a large number of such modules appear in the tight closure theory of complete domains: the test ideal (this has already been known), the parameter test module, and the module of relative test elements. They also appear as certain multiplier ideals, a concept of interest in algebraic geometry.
Tight closure test ideals have been central to the classification of singularities in rings of characteristic $p>0$, and via reduction to characteristic $p$, in equal characteristic zero as well. A summary of their properties and applications can be found in "A survey of test ideals" by Karl Schwede and Kevin Tucker. In this paper, we extend the notion of a test ideal to arbitrary closure operations, particularly those coming from big Cohen-Macaulay modules and algebras, and prove that it shares key properties of tight closure test ideals. Our main results show how these test ideals can be use…
We study higher jumping numbers and generalized test ideals associated to determinantal ideals over a field of positive characteristic. We work in positive characteristic and give a complete characterization of both families for ideals generated by maximal minors; and make a conjecture for the general case. Although these invariants are understood asymptotically - as their positive characteristic grows to infinity they essentially coincide with their characteristic zero analogues - there are known examples where the behavior in positive characteristic differs significantly from that of charact…
Given an ideal $a \subseteq R$ in a (log) $Q$-Gorenstein $F$-finite ring of characteristic $p > 0$, we study and provide a new perspective on the test ideal $τ(R, a^t)$ for a real number $t > 0$. Generalizing a number of known results from the principal case, we show how to effectively compute the test ideal and also describe $τ(R, a^t)$ using (regular) alterations with a formula analogous to that of multiplier ideals in characteristic zero. We further prove that the $F$-jumping numbers of $τ(R, a^t)$ as $t$ varies are rational and have no limit points, including the important case where $R$ i…
Hochster and Huneke proved in \cite{HH5} fine behaviors of symbolic powers of ideals in regular rings, using the theory of tight closure. In this paper, we use generalized test ideals, which are a characteristic $p$ analogue of multiplier ideals, to give a slight generalization of Hochster-Huneke's results.
We prove that the finitistic test ideal $τ_{\rm fg}(R, Δ, \mathfrak{a}^t)$ coincides with the big test ideal $τ_{\rm b}(R, Δ, \mathfrak{a}^t)$ if the pair $(R,Δ)$ is numerically log $\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein.
We consider the following conjecture: if X is a smooth projective variety over a field of characteristic zero, then there is a dense set of reductions X_s of X to positive characteristic such that the action of the Frobenius morphism on the top Zariski cohomology of the structure sheaf of X_s is bijective. We also consider a conjecture relating certain invariants of singularities in characteristic zero (the multiplier ideals) with invariants in positive characteristic (the test ideals). We prove that the former conjecture implies the latter one in the case of ambient nonsingular varieties.
This paper gives an explicit formula for the multiplier ideals, and consequently for the log canonical thresholds, of any GL(V)xGL(W)-invariant ideal in the symmetric algebra S of the tensor product of V with the dual of W, where V and W are vector spaces over a field of characteristic 0. This characterization is done in terms of a polytope constructed from the set of Young diagrams corresponding to the Schur modules generating the ideal. Our approach consists in computing the test ideals of some invariant ideals of S in positive characteristic: Namely, we will compute the test ideals (and so …
We consider the following conjecture: if X is a smooth projective variety over a field of characteristic zero, then there is a dense set of reductions X_s to positive characteristic such that the action of the Frobenius morphism on the top Zariski cohomology of the structure sheaf on X_s is bijective. We also consider the conjecture relating the multiplier ideals of an ideal J on a nonsingular variety in characteristic zero, and the test ideals of the reductions of J to positive characteristic. We prove that the latter conjecture implies the former one. The converse was proved in a joint paper…
This paper is a survey on major results on Hilbert functions of multigraded algebras and mixed multiplicities of ideals, including their applications to the computation of Milnor numbers of complex analytic hypersurfaces with isolated singularity, multiplicities of blowup algebras and mixed volumes of polytopes.
We prove the rationality of the Poincaré series of multiplier ideals in any dimension and thus extending the main results for surfaces of Galindo and Monserrat and Alberich-Carramiñana et al. Our results also hold for Poincaré series of test ideals. In order to do so, we introduce a theory of Hilbert functions indexed over $\mathbb{R}$ which gives an unified treatment of both cases.
We survey classical and recent results on symbolic powers of ideals. We focus on properties and problems of symbolic powers over regular rings, on the comparison of symbolic and regular powers, and on the combinatorics of the symbolic powers of monomial ideals. In addition, we present some new results on these aspects of the subject.
Using perfectoid algebras, we introduce a mixed characteristic analog of the multiplier ideal, respectively test ideal, from characteristic zero, respectively $p > 0$, in the case of a regular ambient ring. We prove several properties about this ideal such as subadditivity. We then use these techniques to derive a uniform bound on the growth of symbolic powers of radical ideals in all excellent regular rings. The analogous result was shown in equal characteristic by Ein-Lazarsfeld-Smith and Hochster-Huneke.
In this note, we consider a corollary of the ACC conjecture for F-pure thresholds. Specifically, we show that the F-pure threshold (and more generally, the test ideals) associated to a polynomial with an isolated singularity are locally constant in the m-adic topology of the corresponding local ring. As a by-product of our methods, we also describe a simple algorithm for computing all of the F-jumping numbers and test ideals associated to an arbitrary polynomial over an F-finite field.
Suppose that $X$ is an integral scheme (quasi-)projective over a complete local ring of mixed characteristic. Using ideas of Takamatsu-Yoshikawa and Bhatt-Ma-et. al, we define a notion of a $+$-test ideal on $X$, including for divisors and linear series. We obtain global generation results in this setting that generalize the well known global generation results obtained via multiplier ideal sheaf techniques in characteristic $0$ and via test ideals in characteristic $p>0$. We also obtain applications to the order of vanishing of linear series and to the diminished base locus in mixed character…
We provide a formula for $F$-thresholds of a Thom-Sebastiani type polynomial over a perfect field of prime characteristic. This result extends the formula for the $F$-pure threshold of a diagonal hypersurface. We also compute the first test ideal of Thom-Sebastiani type polynomials. Finally, we apply our result to find hypersurfaces where the log canonical thresholds equals the $F$-pure thresholds for infinitely many prime numbers.
Continuing ideas of a recent preprint of Schwede arXiv:0906.4313 we study test ideals by viewing them as minimal objects in a certain class of $F$-pure modules over algebras of p^{-e}-linear operators. This shift in the viewpoint leads to a simplified and generalized treatment, also allowing us to define test ideals in non-reduced settings. In combining this with an observation of Anderson on the contracting property of p^{-e}-linear operators we obtain an elementary approach to test ideals in the case of affine k-algebras, where k is an F-finite field. It also yields a short and completely el…
This paper surveys certain problems involving numerical characters for ideals I(Z) defining fat points subschemes $Z=m_1p_1+...+m_np_n$ for general points $p_i\in {\bf P}^2$. It also presents some new results, and includes a suite of MACAULAY 2 scripts for computing actual or conjectured values of (or bounds on) these characters. One such script, for example, is findres, which implements an algorithm due to Fitchett, Harbourne and Holay for computing the syzygy modules in a minimal free resolution of the ideal I(Z) for any such Z with n<=8; since findres does not rely on a Gröbner basis calcul…
Many results are known about test ideals and $F$-singularities for ${\bf Q}$-Gorenstein rings. In this paper we generalize many of these results to the case when the symbolic Rees algebra $O_X \oplus O_X(-K_X) \oplus O_X(-2K_X) \oplus ...$ is finitely generated (or more generally, in the log setting for $-K_X - Δ$). In particular, we show that the $F$-jumping numbers of $τ(X, a^t)$ are discrete and rational. We show that test ideals $τ(X)$ can be described by alterations as in Blickle-Schwede-Tucker (and hence show that splinters are strongly $F$-regular in this setting -- recovering a result …
We introduce two families of ideals, $F$-jumping ideals and $F$-Jacobian ideals, in order to study the singularities of hypersurfaces in positive characteristic. Both families are defined using the $D$-modules $M_α$ that were introduced by Blickle, Mustaţă and Smith. Using strong connections between $F$-jumping ideals and generalized test ideals, we give a characterization of $F$-jumping numbers for hypersurfaces. Furthermore, we give an algorithm that determines whether certain numbers are $F$-jumping numbers. In addition, we use $F$-Jacobian ideals to study intrinsic properties of the singul…
Consider a pair $(R, \ba^t)$ where $R$ is a ring of positive characteristic, $\ba$ is an ideal such that $a \cap $R^{\circ} \neq \emptyset$, and $t > 0$ is a real number. In this situation we have the ideal $τ_R(\ba^t)$, the generalized test ideal associated to $(R, a^t)$ as defined by Hara and Yoshida. We show that $τ_R(a^t) \cap R^{\circ}$ is made up of appropriately defined generalized test elements which we call \emph{sharp test elements}. We also define a variant of $F$-purity for pairs, \emph{sharp $F$-purity}, which interacts well with sharp test elements and agrees with previously defi…
In this note we study the partition of $\mathbb{R}_{\geq0}^{n}$ given by the regions where the mixed test ideals $τ(\mathfrak{a}_{1}^{t_{1}}... \mathfrak{a}_{n}^{t_{n}})$ are constant. We show that each region can be described as the preimage of a natural number under a p-fractal function $φ:\mathbb{R}_{\geq0}^{n}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$. In addition, we give some examples illustrating that these regions do not need to be composed of finitely many rational polytopes.
In this expository paper we survey results that relate Hilbert coefficients of an m-primary ideal I in a Cohen-Macaulay local ring (R, m) with depth of the associated graded ring G(I). Several results in this area follow from two theorems of S. Huckaba and T. Marley. These were proved using homological techniques. We provide simple proofs using superficial sequences.
Suppose that R is a two-dimensional normal standard-graded domain over a finite field. We prove that there exists a uniform Frobenius test exponent b for the class of homogeneous ideals in R generated by at most n elements. This means that for every ideal I in this class we have that f^(p^b) belongs to I^([p^b]) if and only if f belongs to the Frobenius closure I^F. This gives in particular a finite test for the Frobenius closure. On the other hand we show that there is no uniform bound for Frobenius test exponent for all homogeneous ideals independent of the number of generators. Under simila…
We derive transformation rules for test ideals and $F$-singularities under an arbitrary finite surjective morphism $π: Y \to X$ of normal varieties in prime characteristic $p > 0$. The main technique is to relate homomorphisms $F_{*} O_{X} \to O_{X}$, such as Frobenius splittings, to homomorphisms $F_{*} O_{Y} \to O_{Y}$. In the simplest cases, these rules mirror transformation rules for multiplier ideals in characteristic zero. As a corollary, we deduce sufficient conditions which imply that trace is surjective, i.e. $Tr_{Y/X}(π_{*}O_{Y}) = O_{X}$.
Suppose that $X = \Spec R$ is an $F$-finite normal variety in characteristic $p > 0$. In this paper we show that the big test ideal $τ_b(R) = \tld τ(R)$ is equal to $\sum_Δ τ(R; Δ)$ where the sum is over $Δ$ such that $K_X + Δ$ is $\bQ$-Cartier. This affirmatively answers a question asked by various people, including Blickle, Lazarsfeld, K. Lee and K. Smith. Furthermore, we have a version of this result in the case that $R$ is not even necessarily normal.
We give a survey on b-function, spectrum, and multiplier ideals together with certain interesting relations among them including the case of arbitrary subvarieties.
Utilizing ultraproducts, Schoutens constructed a big Cohen-Macaulay algebra $\mathcal{B}(R)$ over a local domain $R$ essentially of finite type over $\mathbb{C}$. We show that if $R$ is normal and $Δ$ is an effective $\mathbb{Q}$-Weil divisor on $\operatorname{Spec} R$ such that $K_R+Δ$ is $\mathbb{Q}$-Cartier, then the BCM test ideal $τ_{\hat{\mathcal{B}(R)}}(\hat{R},\hatΔ)$ of $(\hat{R},\hatΔ)$ with respect to $\hat{\mathcal{B}(R)}$ coincides with the multiplier ideal $\mathcal{J}(\hat{R},\hatΔ)$ of $(\hat{R},\hatΔ)$, where $\hat{R}$ and $\hat{\mathcal{B}(R)}$ are the $\mathfrak{m}$-adic com…
In algebraic geometry, Bertini theorems are an extremely important tool. A generalization of the classical theorem to multiplier ideals show that multiplier ideals restrict to a general hyperplane section. In characteristic $p > 0$, the test ideal can be seen to be the characteristic $p > 0$ analog of the multiplier ideal. However, in this paper it is shown that the same type of Bertini type theorem does not hold for test ideals.
We exhibit a new subadditivity formula for test ideals on singular varieties using an argument similar to those of Demailly-Ein-Lazarsfeld and Hara-Yoshida. Any subadditivity formula for singular varieties must have a correction term that measures the singularities of that variety. Whereas earlier subadditivity formulas accomplished this by multiplying by the Jacobian ideal, our approach is to use the formalism of Cartier algebras. We also show that our subadditivity containment is sharper than ones shown previously by Takagi and Eisenstein. The first of these results follows from a Noether no…
We show that the reduction to positive characteristic of the multiplier ideal in the sense of de Fernex and Hacon agrees with the test ideal for infinitely many primes, assuming that the variety is numerically Q-Gorenstein. It follows, in particular, that this reduction property holds in dimension 2 for all normal surfaces.
The purpose of this note is to give a survey of the algebraic properties of multiplier ideals, and illustrate some of their applications to classical projective geometry.
This article extends the notion of a Frobenius power of an ideal in prime characteristic to allow arbitrary nonnegative real exponents. These generalized Frobenius powers are closely related to test ideals in prime characteristic, and multiplier ideals over fields of characteristic zero. For instance, like these well-known families of ideals, Frobenius powers also give rise to jumping exponents that we call critical Frobenius exponents. In fact, the Frobenius powers of a principal ideal coincides with its test ideals, but appear to be a more refined measure of singularities in general. Herein,…
Suppose $(X, Δ)$ is a log-$\bQ$-Gorenstein pair. Recent work of M. Blickle and the first two authors gives a uniform description of the multiplier ideal $\mJ(X;Δ)$ (in characteristic zero) and the test ideal $τ(X;Δ)$ (in characteristic $p > 0$) via regular alterations. While in general the alteration required depends heavily on $Δ$, for a fixed Cartier divisor $D$ on $X$ it is straightforward to find a single alteration (e.g. a log resolution) computing $\mJ(X; Δ+ λD)$ for all $λ\geq 0$. In this paper, we show the analogous statement in positive characteristic: there exists a single regular al…
In this paper we survey the role of D-module theory in the comparison between logarithmic and meromorphic de Rham complexes of integrable logarithmic connections with respect to free divisors, and we present some new linearity conditions on the Jacobian ideal which arise in this setting.
We introduce an operation on modules over an $F$-finite ring of characteristic $p$. We call this operation \emph{tight interior}. While it exists more generally, in some cases this operation is equivalent to the Matlis dual of tight closure. Moreover, the interior of the ring itself is simply the big test ideal. We directly prove, without appeal to tight closure, results analogous to persistence, colon capturing, and working modulo minimal primes, and we begin to develop a theory dual to phantom homology. Using our dual notion of persistence, we obtain new and interesting transformation rules …
Using the theory of asymptotic test ideals, we prove the prime characteristic analogue of a characteristic $0$ result of Ein, Lazarsfeld and Smith (arXiv:math/0202303) on uniform approximation of valuation ideals associated to real-valued Abhyankar valuations centered on regular varieties over perfect fields.
An integral domain $D$ is a $v$--domain if, for every finitely generated nonzero (fractional) ideal $F$ of $D$, we have $(FF^{-1})^{-1}=D$. The $v$--domains generalize Prüfer and Krull domains and have appeared in the literature with different names. This paper is the result of an effort to put together information on this useful class of integral domains. In this survey, we present old, recent and new characterizations of $v$--domains along with some historical remarks. We also discuss the relationship of $v$--domains with their various specializations and generalizations, giving suitable exa…
We survey old and new approaches to the study of symbolic powers of ideals. Our focus is on the symbolic Rees algebra of an ideal, viewed both as a tool to investigate its symbolic powers and as a source of challenging problems in its own right. We provide an invitation to this area of investigation by stating several open questions.
Let $(X, Δ)$ be a log pair in characteristic $p>0$ and $P$ be a (not necessarily closed) point of $X$. We show that there exists a constant $δ>0$ such that $τ(X, Δ)_P= τ(X, Δ+ D)_P$ for each effective $\mathbb{Q}$-Cartier divisor $D$ with $\mathrm{mult}_P(D) <δ$. As its application, we show that if $D$ is an $\mathbb{R}$-Cartier divisor on a strongly $F$-regular projective variety, then the non-nef locus of $D$ coincides with the restricted base locus of $D$. This is a generalization of a result of Mustaţǎ to the singular case and can be viewed as a characteristic $p$ analogue of a result of C…
Let L be an ample line bundle on a smooth projective variety X over a non-archimedean field K. For a continuous metric on L, we show in the following two cases that the semipositive envelope is a continuous semipositive metric on L and that the non-archimedean Monge-Ampère equation has a solution. First, we prove it for curves using results of Thuillier. Second, we show it under the assumption that X is a surface defined geometrically over the function field of a curve over a perfect field k of positive characteristic. The second case holds in higher dimensions if we assume resolution of singu…
The purpose of this survey is to present analytic versions of the injectivity theorem and their applications. The proof of our injectivity theorems is based on a combination of the L^2-method for the dbar-equation and the theory of harmonic integrals. As applications, we obtain Nadel type vanishing theorems and extension theorems for pluri-canonical sections of log pairs. Moreover, we give some results on semi-ampleness related to the abundance conjecture in birational geometry (the minimal model program).