GSU-USC Commutative Algebra Seminar, February 2009
Atlanta, GA
February 27- March 1, 2009



The seminar represents a collaborative effort of commutative algebraists at Georgia State University and University of South Carolina to increase exposure of their research area in the South-East through periodic meetings. Each term GSU and USC organize a regional seminar and a national one. This Spring, GSU will organize the national seminar. There was a national meeting in Columbia, SC in November 2008, see the following link. For some of the past seminars, see the following links Fall 2008, Spring 2008, Spring 2007, Fall 2007 or Fall 2006 and earlier.


Organizers

Florian Enescu (Georgia State University) fenescu@gsu.edu
Yongwei Yao (Georgia State University) yyao@gsu.edu


The main speaker for this meeting is the Henry J. Bischoff Professor Craig Huneke from the University of Kansas. He will deliver a colloquium on Friday, Februrary 27 at Georgia State University and a research talk later in the meeting.


Invited speakers are:

Joe Brennan, University of Central Florida

Hailong Dao, University of Kansas

Craig Huneke, University of Kansas

Lee Klingler, Florida Atlantic University

Andrew Kustin, University of South Carolina

Jinjia Li, Middle Tennessee State University

David Jorgensen, University of Texas at Arlington

Adela Vraciu, University of South Carolina



Schedule (all talks will take place in 796 COE, the 7th floor of the College of Education Building - Map , address: 30 Pryor St SW, Atlanta GA):

Friday

Colloquium Talk (refreshments served at 2:00pm)
2:30-3:30pm Craig Huneke, How many times does a polynomial vanish along an algebraic subset of points?

Abstract: This talk will discuss the title question. It is not too hard to figure out what it should mean for a polynomial f(X_1,...,X_n) to have an k-fold zero at a point (a_1,a_2,...,a_n) in complex n-space. One demands that f and all its partial derivatives up to k-1 st order vanish at that point. But there are several possibilities if one asks that f vanish along an algebraic subset X of complex n-space. (An algebraic set is the set of zeroes of some set of polynomials.) The differences between possible definitions leads to what are called symbolic powers of ideals. Many open questions pertain to symbolic powers. We will discuss some elementary ones.

3:45-4:45pm Joseph Brennan, Cut ideals and wheels


Saturday

9:00am Refreshments
9:30-10:30am Lee Klingler, Finitely generated modules over commutative Noetherian rings
11:00-12:00pm David Jorgensen, On the vanishing of Ext_R(M,M)
Lunch break
2:00-3:00pm Adela Vraciu, Canonical modules of rings which are almost Gorenstein
3:15-4:15pm Jinjia Li, Some observations on rigidity of Frobenius endomorphism
4:30-5:30pm Hailong Dao, On complexities of modules


Sunday

9:00am Refreshments
9:30-10:30pm Andrew Kustin, Generic Gaussian Ideals
11:00-12:00pm Craig Huneke, Bounding multiplicities in graded rings



Abstracts

Joe Brennan, University of Central Florida
Abstract: We will survey the progress in investigating on cut ideals and report on the (very very latest) progress in the area.

Hailong Dao, University of Kansas
Abstract: Let R be a local ring. The complexity of a pair of R-modules (M,N) is defined by Avramov-Buchweitz to be the polynomial growth rate of the sequence of number of generators of the modules Ext_i(M,N). In this talk I will describe some recent results on this interesting invariant especially when R is Cohen-Macaulay (part of this is joint work with Oana Veliche).

Craig Huneke, University of Kansas
Abstract: This talk is based on preliminary work with M. Mustata, S. Takagi, and K. Watanabe. We study a conjectured inequality relating the multiplicities of two homogeneous systems of parameters in a non-negatively graded Noetherian ring over a field. We sketch a proof which uses reduction to characteristic $p$ and the fact (proved by Hochster and myself) that a certain graded plus closure is Cohen-Macaulay.

Lee Klingler, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract: A survey of results from two joint projects.
First (joint with L. Levy): For which rings is a ``reasonable'' description of all indecomposable finitely generated modules possible? We show that the answer is an extension of the notion of Dedekind-like rings introduced by Levy twenty-five years ago.
Second (joint with W. Hassler, R. Karr, and R. Wiegand): It is known that indecomposable finitely generated modules over Dedekind-like rings have bounded torsion-free rank (in fact less than or equal to 2 at each minimal prime). Are there any other rings for which the indecomposable finitely generated modules have bounded torsion-free rank? We show that the answer is ``no'' by constructing, for each (local) non-Dedekind-like ring and each possible rank, infinitely many pairwise non-isomorphic indecomposable finitely generated modules.

Andrew Kustin, University of South Carolina
Abstract: The content of a polynomial is the ideal generated by its coefficients. This notion was introduced by Gauss who observed that the content of the product of two polynomials is the product of contents, for polynomials in one variable with integer coefficients. Now a days, the content of the product of two polynomials f and g is called the Gaussian ideal, G(f,g), of the two polynomials. Consider two generic polynomials f=x_0+...+x_nt^n and g=y_0+...+y_mt^m, where the coefficients of f and g are indeterminates over the base field k. Let R be the polynomial ring k[{x_i,y_j}]. Corso, Vasconcelos, and Villarreal found that the primary decomposition of the generic Gaussian ideal G(f,g) consists of three components: the content of f, the content of g, and one other, interesting, component that they call L(f,g). Furthermore, they proved that R/L(f,g) is a Gorenstein ring. Their proof that R/L(f,g) is Gorenstein amounted to observing that R/L(f,g) is the trivial extension of a certain residual intersection ring by its canonical module. The residual intersection and its canonical module had been studied by Huneke and Ulrich. Corso, Vasconcelos, and Villarreal then examined the primary decomposition of the content of the product of three generic polynomials: f, g, and h. It is not hard to guess what they found: the content of f, the content of g, the content of h, L(f,g), L(f,h), L(g,h), and one other, interesting, component that they call L(f,g,h). Corso, Vasconcelos, and Villarreal conjecture that R/L(f,g,h) is a Gorenstein ring. We discuss a new proof that R/L(f,g) is a Gorenstein ring with an eye toward proving the [CVV] conjecture. Our proof involves resolving the coordinate ring of a variety of commutative squares.

Jinjia Li, Middle Tennessee State University
Abstract: Avramov and Miller proved that over complete intersections, the Frobenius endomorphism (regarded as a module) is always rigid. In general, this cannot be generalized to the Gorenstein case. Explicit examples of nonrigid Frobenius endomorphism will be constructed. On the other hand, it is not clear to which extent one can generalize Avramov and Miller's result. Some partial results in this regard will also be discussed. Part of this work is joint with Claudia Miller.

David Jorgensen, University of Texas at Arlington
Abstract: The vanishing of Ext_R^i(M,M) for all i>0 happens quite easily for finitely generated modules M of either finite projective or finite injective dimension. But is this the only way the vanishing can occur? We will see that although in some cases the answer to this question is yes, it is not always so, even over commutative local rings R. We will also give a characterization of such modules in terms of presentations of R by Gorenstein rings. This involves joint work with G. Leuschke and S. Sather-Wagstaff.

Adela Vraciu, University of South Carolina
Abstract: We study the minimal free resolution of the canonical module of a ring which is almost Gorenstein. For certain rings of this type, which includeTeter rings (Gorenstein modulo the socle), we prove that there is a copy of the residue field that splits off the second syzygy of the canonical module. As a consequence, we see that such rings do not admit non-trivial totally reflexive modules. This is joint work with Janet Striuli.



Other participants:

Muslim Baig, Georgia State University
Julian Chan, University of Utah
Annanth Hariharan, University of Kansas
Jong-Wook Kim, Georgia State University
Sara Malec, Georgia State University
Hannah Robbins, Wake Forest University
Bart Snapp, Coastal Carolina University
Sandra Spiroff, University of Mississippi
Harrison Stalvey, Georgia State University,
Janet Striuli, Fairfield University
Javid Validashti, University of Kansas

Two dinners are planned one on Friday at 6pm at Chateau Saigon and the other on Saturday at 6:30pm at Mali Restaurant . Directions will be provided at the conference. Please let us know by Thursday February 26 if you plan to attend any of the dinners.


For those interested in attending the conference, please complete our registration form. We have limited funds for financial support and plan to answer any funding requests after January 28, 2009. So please send your requests by this date.

A few lodging recommendations: Downtown Atlanta Wyndham. Downtown Altanta Residence Inn.
North-East Atlanta Courtyard by Marriott.
North-East Atlanta Holiday Inn
Downtown hotels tend to be expensive, but they are within walking distance to GSU. However, we will organize rides between GSU, hotels and dining destinations. We would appreciate if you let us where you plan to stay in case you need rides. There are many other hotels in the downtown area with varying lodging rates. If you plan to stay there and have questions regarding a hotel, do let us know.


The meeting is partially supported by the National Security Agency and the Mathematics and Statistics Department at Georgia State University.

 


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