Nakai's conjecture on higher derivations and regularity

Let kk be a field of characteristic zero and let AA be a kk-algebra of finite type. For each integer q1q\ge 1, let Derq(A)Der^q(A) denote the module of differential operators of order at most qq and let derq(A)der^q(A) be the AA-submodule generated by compositions of at most qq elements of Der1(A)Der^1(A). Nakai's conjecture. If

derq(A)=Derq(A)der^q(A)=Der^q(A)

for each integer q1q\ge 1, then AA is regular. Grothendieck proved the converse implication for finite-type regular algebras. The conjecture was stated by Mount and Villamayor in 1973 and is known for affine rings of irreducible algebraic curves; it remains open in general. It also implies the Zariski–Lipman conjecture.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Rui Li, Zida Xiao and Huaiqing Zuo, “The Nakai Conjecture for isolated hypersurface singularities of modality 2”, arXiv:2502.04672 (2025).

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