Lech's conjecture on Hilbert–Samuel multiplicities

Let (R,m)(S,n)(R,\mathfrak{m}) \to (S,\mathfrak{n}) be a flat local extension of local rings. Here e(R)e(R) and e(S)e(S) denote their Hilbert–Samuel multiplicities.

Lech's conjecture. Then

e(R)e(S).e(R) \leq e(S).

This conjecture was formulated by Lech around 1960 and remains open in most cases. The paper proves it under additional hypotheses, including when SS is the localization of a standard graded ring over a field at the homogeneous maximal ideal and mS\mathfrak{m}S is the localization of a homogeneous ideal that is n\mathfrak{n}-primary.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Cheng Meng, “Strongly Lech-independent ideals and Lech's conjecture”, arXiv:2112.09849 (2025).

Additional references

5 papers in this index state this conjecture (2014–2021). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2104.05766, arXiv:2005.02338, arXiv:1609.00095, arXiv:1408.7098.

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