Intersection theoryIn mathematics, intersection theory is one of the main branches of algebraic geometry, where it gives information about the intersection of two subvarieties of a given variety. The theory for varieties is older, with roots in Bézout's theorem on curves and elimination theory. On the other hand, the topological theory more quickly reached a definitive form. There is yet an ongoing development of intersection theory. Currently the main focus is on: virtual fundamental cycles, quantum intersection rings, Gromov-Witten theory and the extension of intersection theory from schemes to stacks.
Intersection numberIn mathematics, and especially in algebraic geometry, the intersection number generalizes the intuitive notion of counting the number of times two curves intersect to higher dimensions, multiple (more than 2) curves, and accounting properly for tangency. One needs a definition of intersection number in order to state results like Bézout's theorem. The intersection number is obvious in certain cases, such as the intersection of the x- and y-axes in a plane, which should be one.
Regular local ringIn commutative algebra, a regular local ring is a Noetherian local ring having the property that the minimal number of generators of its maximal ideal is equal to its Krull dimension. In symbols, let A be a Noetherian local ring with maximal ideal m, and suppose a1, ..., an is a minimal set of generators of m. Then by Krull's principal ideal theorem n ≥ dim A, and A is defined to be regular if n = dim A. The appellation regular is justified by the geometric meaning.
Commutative ringIn mathematics, a commutative ring is a ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring properties that are not specific to commutative rings. This distinction results from the high number of fundamental properties of commutative rings that do not extend to noncommutative rings. A ring is a set equipped with two binary operations, i.e. operations combining any two elements of the ring to a third.
Ring (mathematics)In mathematics, rings are algebraic structures that generalize fields: multiplication need not be commutative and multiplicative inverses need not exist. In other words, a ring is a set equipped with two binary operations satisfying properties analogous to those of addition and multiplication of integers. Ring elements may be numbers such as integers or complex numbers, but they may also be non-numerical objects such as polynomials, square matrices, functions, and power series.
Tensor product of modulesIn mathematics, the tensor product of modules is a construction that allows arguments about bilinear maps (e.g. multiplication) to be carried out in terms of linear maps. The module construction is analogous to the construction of the tensor product of vector spaces, but can be carried out for a pair of modules over a commutative ring resulting in a third module, and also for a pair of a right-module and a left-module over any ring, with result an abelian group.
Spectrum of a ringIn commutative algebra, the prime spectrum (or simply the spectrum) of a ring R is the set of all prime ideals of R, and is usually denoted by ; in algebraic geometry it is simultaneously a topological space equipped with the sheaf of rings . For any ideal I of R, define to be the set of prime ideals containing I. We can put a topology on by defining the to be This topology is called the Zariski topology. A basis for the Zariski topology can be constructed as follows. For f ∈ R, define Df to be the set of prime ideals of R not containing f.
Idempotent (ring theory)In ring theory, a branch of mathematics, an idempotent element or simply idempotent of a ring is an element a such that a2 = a. That is, the element is idempotent under the ring's multiplication. Inductively then, one can also conclude that a = a2 = a3 = a4 = ... = an for any positive integer n. For example, an idempotent element of a matrix ring is precisely an idempotent matrix. For general rings, elements idempotent under multiplication are involved in decompositions of modules, and connected to homological properties of the ring.
Bézout's theoremBézout's theorem is a statement in algebraic geometry concerning the number of common zeros of n polynomials in n indeterminates. In its original form the theorem states that in general the number of common zeros equals the product of the degrees of the polynomials. It is named after Étienne Bézout. In some elementary texts, Bézout's theorem refers only to the case of two variables, and asserts that, if two plane algebraic curves of degrees and have no component in common, they have intersection points, counted with their multiplicity, and including points at infinity and points with complex coordinates.
Multiplicity (mathematics)In mathematics, the multiplicity of a member of a multiset is the number of times it appears in the multiset. For example, the number of times a given polynomial has a root at a given point is the multiplicity of that root. The notion of multiplicity is important to be able to count correctly without specifying exceptions (for example, double roots counted twice). Hence the expression, "counted with multiplicity". If multiplicity is ignored, this may be emphasized by counting the number of distinct elements, as in "the number of distinct roots".
Semisimple moduleIn mathematics, especially in the area of abstract algebra known as module theory, a semisimple module or completely reducible module is a type of module that can be understood easily from its parts. A ring that is a semisimple module over itself is known as an Artinian semisimple ring. Some important rings, such as group rings of finite groups over fields of characteristic zero, are semisimple rings. An Artinian ring is initially understood via its largest semisimple quotient.
Adequate equivalence relationIn algebraic geometry, a branch of mathematics, an adequate equivalence relation is an equivalence relation on algebraic cycles of smooth projective varieties used to obtain a well-working theory of such cycles, and in particular, well-defined intersection products. Pierre Samuel formalized the concept of an adequate equivalence relation in 1958. Since then it has become central to theory of motives. For every adequate equivalence relation, one may define the of pure motives with respect to that relation.
Henselian ringIn mathematics, a Henselian ring (or Hensel ring) is a local ring in which Hensel's lemma holds. They were introduced by , who named them after Kurt Hensel. Azumaya originally allowed Henselian rings to be non-commutative, but most authors now restrict them to be commutative. Some standard references for Hensel rings are , , and . In this article rings will be assumed to be commutative, though there is also a theory of non-commutative Henselian rings. A local ring R with maximal ideal m is called Henselian if Hensel's lemma holds.
Gorenstein ringIn commutative algebra, a Gorenstein local ring is a commutative Noetherian local ring R with finite injective dimension as an R-module. There are many equivalent conditions, some of them listed below, often saying that a Gorenstein ring is self-dual in some sense. Gorenstein rings were introduced by Grothendieck in his 1961 seminar (published in ). The name comes from a duality property of singular plane curves studied by (who was fond of claiming that he did not understand the definition of a Gorenstein ring).
Regular sequenceIn commutative algebra, a regular sequence is a sequence of elements of a commutative ring which are as independent as possible, in a precise sense. This is the algebraic analogue of the geometric notion of a complete intersection. For a commutative ring R and an R-module M, an element r in R is called a non-zero-divisor on M if r m = 0 implies m = 0 for m in M. An M-regular sequence is a sequence r1, ..., rd in R such that ri is a not a zero-divisor on M/(r1, ..., ri-1)M for i = 1, ..., d.
Length of a moduleIn algebra, the length of a module is a generalization of the dimension of a vector space which measures its size. page 153 It is defined to be the length of the longest chain of submodules. The modules of finite length are finitely generated modules, but as opposite to vector spaces, many finitely generated modules have an infinite length. Finitely generated modules of finite length are also called Artinian modules and are at the basis of the theory of Artinian rings. For vector spaces, the length equals the dimension.
Catenary ringIn mathematics, a commutative ring R is catenary if for any pair of prime ideals p, q, any two strictly increasing chains p = p0 ⊂ p1 ⊂ ... ⊂ pn = q of prime ideals are contained in maximal strictly increasing chains from p to q of the same (finite) length. In a geometric situation, in which the dimension of an algebraic variety attached to a prime ideal will decrease as the prime ideal becomes bigger, the length of such a chain n is usually the difference in dimensions.
Jacobson radicalIn mathematics, more specifically ring theory, the Jacobson radical of a ring is the ideal consisting of those elements in that annihilate all simple right -modules. It happens that substituting "left" in place of "right" in the definition yields the same ideal, and so the notion is left-right symmetric. The Jacobson radical of a ring is frequently denoted by or ; the former notation will be preferred in this article, because it avoids confusion with other radicals of a ring.
Elliptic surfaceIn mathematics, an elliptic surface is a surface that has an elliptic fibration, in other words a proper morphism with connected fibers to an algebraic curve such that almost all fibers are smooth curves of genus 1. (Over an algebraically closed field such as the complex numbers, these fibers are elliptic curves, perhaps without a chosen origin.) This is equivalent to the generic fiber being a smooth curve of genus one. This follows from proper base change.
Algebraic curveIn mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane curve can be completed in a projective algebraic plane curve by homogenizing its defining polynomial. Conversely, a projective algebraic plane curve of homogeneous equation h(x, y, t) = 0 can be restricted to the affine algebraic plane curve of equation h(x, y, 1) = 0.
