1

I am just self-studying Justin Smith algebraic geometry. I have the following question. Consider the following lemma.

Let $m\subset R$ be a maximal ideal of a noetherian ring $R$ or an arbitrary ideal of a noetherian domain. Then $$\bigcap_{j = 1}^{\infty} m^j = (0).$$

I just have a small question. In the proof they call the intersection $b$. Since $R$ is noetherian, $b$ is finitely generated as a module over $R$. Since $$mb = b$$ Nakayama's Lemma implies...

Now I am confused how come we have $mb = b$? Can someone explain this?

user26857
  • 52,094
  • Try to show both containments! Is one direction easier than another? – diracdeltafunk May 13 '21 at 01:05
  • Yes, definitely one is easier we have $mb \subset b$ trivially by the fact that b is an ideal. I am not sure the other one. – joe blacksmith May 13 '21 at 01:26
  • 1
    for what it's worth, in my opinion this is quite a non-trivial fact, and I agree it's odd that they take it as a given. the only proof I know uses the so-called Artin-Rees lemma; see the discussion here. perhaps there is an easier way to see it, but I do not think it's obvious – Atticus Stonestrom May 13 '21 at 02:33
  • 1
    Yes, that is what I thought it seemed to me that this should be obvious as they didn't show it in the book. – joe blacksmith May 13 '21 at 02:38
  • 4
    @AtticusStonestrom When $R$ is a Noetherian local ring, there is a short proof; see Ravi Vakil's proof here. Other than that, I too learned it as a corollary of Artin-Rees lemma. – cqfd May 13 '21 at 06:27
  • 1
    @ShiveringSoldier oh that's a very very clean proof, thank you so much for sharing!! – Atticus Stonestrom May 13 '21 at 13:25
  • 1
    @ShiveringSoldier ah, I was doing some old past papers for exam revision, and I came across a problem that goes through another very clean direct proof of this theorem! if you're interested I've written it up below as an alternative proof for OP to consider, alongside yours and Rithvik's. – Atticus Stonestrom May 17 '21 at 16:43

2 Answers2

2

One direction is clear, that is, $mb \subseteq b$. So, we'll have to prove the other direction. The other direction is slightly tricky.

By the Artin-Rees Lemma, for every $n>0$, there exists some $k>0$ such that

$m^{k} \cap b \subseteq m^{n}b$

Choose $n=1$.

Now, note that $b \subseteq m^{k}$. This implies that $b \subseteq mb$ which means that $b=mb$

$m$ is maximal and $A$ is local, so using Nakayama's Lemma implies that $b=0$

1

@Shivering Soldier has already posted a link to a very nice direct proof of this fact using primary decomposition, and @RithvikReddy has already written a proof using the Artin-Rees lemma (+1), but here's another alternative proof.

Let $R$ be any (commutative) Noetherian ring and let $I$ be an ideal of $R$. We will show that $IJ=J$, where $J=\bigcap_{n=1}^\infty I^n$.

To see this, note that the set of ideals of $R$ whose intersection with $J$ is $IJ$ is non-empty, as it contains $IJ$. So, since $R$ is Noetherian, we may find an ideal $K\leqslant R$ maximal subject to $K\cap J=IJ$.

Claim: For any $x\in I$, there exists $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that $x^k\in K$. To see this, consider the following ascending chain of ideals $$(K:x)\subseteq(K:x^2)\subseteq(K:x^3)\subseteq\dots.$$ Since $R$ is Noetherian, this chain must stabilize; let $k$ be such that $(K:x^l)=(K:x^k)$ for all $l\geqslant k$. Now we claim $x^k\in K$; otherwise, $K':=K+(x^k)$ is an ideal strictly containing $K$, and so by maximality of $K$ we have $K'\cap J\supsetneq IJ$, and so there exists $a\in K$ and $\lambda\in R$ such that $a+\lambda x^k\in J\setminus IJ$. In particular, note that $$xa+\lambda x^{k+1}=x(a+\lambda x^k)\in IJ\subseteq K,$$ so in fact, since $a\in K$, also $\lambda x^{k+1}\in K$, ie $\lambda\in (K:x^{k+1})$. But $(K:x^{k+1})=(K:x^k)$ by hypothesis, so in fact $\lambda x^k\in K$, whence $a+\lambda x^k\in K\cap J=IJ$, a contradiction. Thus indeed $x^k\in I$ and so we are done. $\blacksquare$

Now, since $R$ is Noetherian, $I$ is finitely generated, and so, by applying the claim to each of the generators of $I$ and taking the sum of the exponents, we can find $n\in\mathbb{N}$ such that $I^n\subseteq K$. Thus $I^n\cap J\subseteq K\cap J=IJ$. On the other hand, $J\subseteq I^n$ and so $I^n\cap J=J$, so we in fact have $J\subseteq IJ$ and thus we are done.

user26857
  • 52,094