Herzog's last theorem

Let RR be a regular local ring, let IRI\subset R be a proper ideal, and set S=R/IS=R/I. For an RR-algebra homomorphism RSR\to S and an SS-module MM, write Ti(S/R,M)T_i(S/R,M) for the cotangent modules.

Herzog's last theorem. The following conditions are equivalent:

  1. II is a complete intersection.
  2. Ti(S/R,S)=0T_i(S/R,S)=0 for all i>1i>1.
  3. Ti(S/R,S)=0T_i(S/R,S)=0 for all i1i\gg1.

Herzog posed this conjecture in 1981, and the paper states that it remains open. It predicts that the vanishing of the cotangent modules in all sufficiently high degrees, or in every degree greater than one, characterizes complete intersections in regular local rings.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Antonino Ficarra, “Cotangent functors and Herzog's last theorem”, arXiv:2501.13867 (2025).

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