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Math 6150: Commutative Algebra, Fall 2009


Lecture Topics


Date
What we discussed/How we spent our time
Aug 24
Syllabus. Grade based on HW. Motivation for and definitions of: ring, k-algebra, and modules over either.
Aug 26
Algebraic languages. Equivalent languages. Meanings of "commutative" and "abelian".
Aug 28
Abelianness for groups and rings, normal subgroups and ideals. Solvability=nilpotence for ideals in associative rings.
Aug 31
Properties of ideal multiplication. Nilpotent and idempotent elements, ideals.
Sep 2
More properties of ideal multiplication. Proof that a commutative ring whose ideal lattice has finite height has a largest nilpotent ideal (= the Wedderburn radical) and the quotient modulo this ideal is a finite product of fields.
Sep 4
Characterizations of the nilradical and the Jacobson radical.
Sep 9 and 11
Commutative rings, frames, topological spaces, spectra.
Sep 14
Algebraic closure operators + additional notes. Every endomorphism of a f.g. module satisfies its characteristic polynomial(s).
Sep 16-18
Strong and weak versions of Nakayama's Lemma. Categories, functors, representable functors, preadditive categories, additive functors. Notes1
Sep 21
Notes2
Sep 23
Localization: Motivation. Definition. Universal property. All ideals in RS are extended from R.
Sep 25
Localization: Bijection between primes of RS and primes of R that are disjoint from S. Formula for Iec along ν: R → RS. Any ideal maximal among ideals disjoint from multiplicatively closed S is prime. Complements of saturated multiplicatively closed sets are unions of primes. RP := R(R-P).
Sep 28
Localization: Modules over localized rings. Isomorphism between MS and M ⊗R RS Localization is an exact functor. RS is a flat R-module.
Sep 30
Discussion of sheaves of analytic functions, including definitions of function element, germ, sheaf of germs, stalks, topology on the sheaf of germs.
Oct 2
Definition of sections over an open set. Proof that a continuous section over an open set is the section induced by a function that is locally a function element. Definition of presheaf. Axioms (normalization, local determination, gluing) defining a sheaf with values in a concrete category. Colimits and the construction of stalks.
Oct 5
Axioms for B-sheaves. Canonical basis for Spec(R) (= basis of principal open sets). ``Value at P'' of f ∈ R is the image of f under the composite map R → RP → RP/PRP = κ(P) (= the residue field at P). Zero set of f ∈ R. Support of f ∈ R. Z(f) and Supp(f) are closed and Z(f) ∪ Supp(f) = Spec(R). B-sheaf for X=Spec(R) is OX(Xf)=Rf. Proof that Z(g) ⊆ Z(f) is equivalent to g invertible in Rf, and consequently that the B-sheaf for Spec(R) is well-defined. Description of the morphism of schemes Spec(S) → Spec(R) induced by a ring homomorphism φ : R → S. Definitions.
Oct 7
Primary decomposition: Definition of primary ideal. Proof that every element is the meet of meet-irreducibles in a lattice with the ACC. Proof that meet-irreducible ideals are primary in a Noetherian ring. Hence, any ideal in a Noetherian ring is a (finite) meet of primary ideals. Definition of Laskerian ring and a list of characterizing properties.
Oct 9
Primary decomposition:
Identification of primary ideals: Q is primary iff every zero divisor in R/Q is nilpotent. The radical of a primary ideal is prime (= the associated prime). If the radical of I is maximal, then I is primary.
Constructing new primary ideals: A finite intersection of P-primary ideals is P-primary. If Q is P-primary and x∉ Q, then (Q:x) is P-primary (and is larger than Q if x∈ P).
First uniqueness theorem: Definition of ``minimal'' primary decomposition. Explanation of why any ideal in a Noetherian ring has a minimal primary decomposition. Thm. The associated primes in any minimal decomposition are unique. Cor. Every radical ideal of a Noetherian ring is representable as an irredundant intersection of prime ideals in exactly one way (up to a permutation of factors). (This Cor. can be obtained from HW2(6)(c) plus one more line of argument.)
Oct 12
Primary decomposition: We completed the proof of the first uniqueness theorem, then used an idea from the proof to motivate the definition of associated primes for modules (= prime annihilators, P=(0:m)).
Oct 14
Associated primes for modules: definition, characterization via embedding R/p → M, existence of for Noetherian rings, ∪ Ass(M) = zero divisors on M when R is Noetherian. Behavior of Ass(_) on exact sequences. F.g. modules over a Noetherian ring have a finite filtration with factors of the form R/p. Ass(M) is finite when M is f.g. over a Noetherian ring.
Oct 19
Associated primes for modules: Behavior of Ass(_) with respect to localization. Relationship between Ass(M) and Supp(M) when M is f.g. over a Noetherian ring. Definition and basic properties of primary submodules.
Oct 21
Associated primes for modules: More basic properties of primary submodules, including: a submodule of a f.g. module over a Noetherian ring is primary iff it has a unique associated prime. Proof of First and Second Uniqueness Theorems for primary decompositions of modules. Proof of the Krull Intersection Theorem. Notes for last 3 lectures.
Oct 23
Integral dependence: basic results about integral extensions and integral closure.
Oct 26
Primes in integral extensions: Lying over, Incomparability, Going Up. Integral closure is preserved under localization.
Oct 28
Primes in integral extensions: Integral closure is a local property of a domain. Prime avoidance. Thm. If A is integrally closed in K, L is a normal extension of K, B is the integeral closure of A in L, and P is a prime of A, then Gal(L/K) acts transitively on the primes of B lying over P.
Oct 30
Going Down. Noether Normalization Lemma.
Nov 2
Artinian rings: Artin Structure Theorem (a ring is Artinian iff it is a finite product of Artinian local rings). A local ring is Artinian iff it is Noetherian and has a nilpotent maximal ideal. An arbitrary ring is Artinian iff it is Noetherian of Krull dimension 0. Every ring is a subdirect product of subdirectly irreducible rings. A subdirectly irreducible ring is Noetherian iff it is Artinian.
Nov 4
Noetherian rings: Hilbert Basis Theorem. Artin-Tate Lemma. Field-theoretic version of the Nullstellensatz: If k is a field, then any field that is an affine algebra over k is a finite field extension of k.
Nov 6
We derived the Weak Nullstellensatz from the Field-Theoretic Form of the Nullstellensatz, and then derived the Strong Nullstellensatz from the Weak Nullstellensatz. One corollary obtained was the classification of maximal ideals in polynomial rings over algebraically closed fields. A second corollary was the fact that the Jacobson radical of an ideal equals its nilradical in a polynomial ring over an algebraically closed field.
Nov 9
Valuation rings: Definition. Valuation rings are the domains whose ideal lattice is a chain. Valuation rings are integrally closed local rings. Given a field K and an algebraically closed field L we can order pairs (R,φ) where R is a subring of K and φ is a homomorphism into L by extension. Under this ordering, if (R,φ) is maximal, then R is a valuation ring for K and ker(φ) is its maximal ideal.
Nov 11
Valuation rings: If R is a domain and K is its field of fractions, then the intersection of the valuation rings on K that contain R is the integral closure of R in K. Definition of the domination order on local subrings of a field. Valuation rings on K are the maximal local subrings in the domination order. Totally ordered groups: Definition and examples. Order is determined by the positive cone. Archimedean totally ordered groups are those that embed in the reals. There exist nonarchimedean totally ordered groups.
Nov 13
Valuation rings: The totally ordered group associated to a valuation ring. A valuation ring R on a field K defines a linear order on K*/R*. R-submodules of K are linearly ordered. Valuation rings are Bezout domains, hence are Noetherian iff PID. Definition of Krull valuation and of the canonical valuation of a valuation ring. Valuation rings correspond to valuations. Primes in valuation rings correspond to convex subgroups of the value group. A valuation ring has Krull dimension 1 iff its value group is Archimedean. Definition of discrete valuation ring (DVR). Proof that a valuation ring is a DVR iff it is Noetherian iff it is a PID.
Nov 16
Characterization theorem for DVR's:
Thm. If R is an integral domain, TFAE:
(1) R is a DVR.
(2) R is a local PID.
(3) R is a local ring that is
  (a) Noetherian,
  (b) integrally closed, and
  (c) of Krull dimension 1.

Item (b) can be replaced by (b)' has a principal maximal ideal, or by (b)'' has the property every ideal is a power of the maximal ideal. Definition of Dedekind domain.
Nov 18
Characterization theorem for Dedekind domains, part 1: Integral, invertible and fractional R-ideals. Principal ideals are invertible. If a product is invertible, then each factor is. Invertible ideals are finitely generated. Invertible ideals are fractional.

Big Thm. If R is a domain, TFAE:
(1) R is a Dedekind domain.
(2) Every nonzero (fractional) ideal of R is invertible.
(3) R is Noetherian and every maximal ideal is invertible.
(4) Every nonzero ideal of R factors uniquely as a product of maximal ideals.
When these conditions hold, then R has Krull dimension 1.
Nov 20
Characterization theorem for Dedekind domains, part 2: We completed the proof of the Big Thm. Then we proved

Thm. If R is a Noetherian domain of Krull dimension 1, TFAE:
(1) R is integrally closed.
(2) RP is a DVR for all nonzero primes P.
(3) Every P-primary ideal is a P-power.

and

Thm. If R is a Noetherian domain of Krull dimension 1, then R is a Dedekind domain iff R is integrally closed.

Together with the Big Thm we get

Thm. If R is a domain, then R is a Dedekind domain iff it is:
(a) Noetherian,
(b) integrally closed, and
(c) of Krull dimension 1.

This imples that a Noetherian domain is a Dedekind domain iff it is locally a DVR.
Nov 30
Completions: Discussion indicating that a local ring at a point on a variety has some `global' information. Completions allow us to look at very local information. Background information about topologizing an algebra, including a discussion of the congruence metric and congruence uniformities.
Dec 2
Completions: the I-adic topology on a ring or module, separated topologies. The I-adic topology is separated iff it is T0 iff it is T2 iff it is a metric topology. The ring and module operations are continuous w.r.t. the I-adic topology. Definition of Cauchy sequence (and equivalence of C-sequences) for a metric or uniformity. Definition of the completion of a ring in the I-adic topology in terms of C-sequences. The completion of R belongs to HSP(R). There is a natural map from R into its completion.
Dec 4
We discussed the construction of the completion by inverse limits. This shows that the completion of R lies in SPH(R), a stronger result that the earlier result that it lies in HSP(R). We showed that the I-adic topology on R is the restriction of a metric topology on its completion.
Dec 7
We proved that the completion of R with respect to the I-adic topology is complete (i.e., all C-sequences converge). We discussed the statement of Hensel's Lemma. We derived the statement that any finite local ring contains a Galois subring with the same residue field. We described a version of the implicit function theorem valid over any field, which can be derived from Hensel's Lemma.
Dec 9
Proof of Hensel's Lemma. Some elementary dimension theory: any prime contained in proper principal ideal has codimension zero.
Dec 11
Definition of symbolic powers of primes: The nth symbolic power of P is P(n) = (Pn)ec along the canonical map R → RP. It is the least P-primary ideal containing Pn. P(n) and Pn have the same localization at P, it is (PP)n.
More dimension theory: Krull's Principal Ideal Theorem. First version proved shows that in a Noetherian ring any prime minimal over a principal ideal has codimension ≤ 1. Second version proved shows that in a Noetherian ring any prime minimal over an n-generated ideal has codimension ≤ n.