Annihilators and decompositions of singularity categories

Özgür Esentepe - University of Graz
Triangulated categories in algebra and geometry
Prague - September 2024

Today's theorem

Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n$ be elements of a commutative Noetherian ring $R$ such that the product $x_1 \cdot \cdot \cdot x_n$ belongs to $\mathrm{ann} \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R) $.

A: We have a decomposition \[ \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R) = \mathsf{smd}(\mathsf{C}(x_1) * \ldots * \mathsf{C}(x_n) ) \]

This is joint work with Ryo Takahashi.

B: We have an upper bound \[ \dim \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R) \leq \sum_{i=1}^n \dim \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R/x_i R) + n - 1 \]assuming that no $x_i$ is a unit or a zerodivisor.

Depth

Until further notice, let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian and local with maximal ideal $\m$.

And assume all modules are finitely generated.

A ring element $x \in \m$ is a nonzerodivisor on a module $M$ if $xm = 0$ implies $m =0$.

A sequence of elements $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in \m$ is a regular sequence on a module $M$ if $x_1$ is a nonzerodivisor on $M$ and $x_{i+1}$ is a nonzerodivisor on $M/(x_1,\ldots, x_i)M$ for any $i = 1, \ldots, n-1$.

The depth of a module $M$ is the maximum length of a regular sequence on $M$.

The depth of a nonzero module is always bounded above by the Krull dimension of the ring.

We say that $R$ is Cohen-Macaulay if the depth of the regular module equals the Krull dimension.

We say that a module $M$ over a Cohen-Macaulay ring is (maximal) Cohen-Macaulay if the depth of $M$ equals the Krull dimension of $R$.

Depth Lemma

Let $0 \to M \to N \to L \to 0$ be a short exact sequence of $R$-modules.

  1. $\depth (M) \geq \min\{\depth(N), \depth(L) + 1\}$,
  2. $\depth (N) \geq \min\{\depth(M), \depth(L)\}$,
  3. $\depth (L) \geq \min\{\depth(M) -1, \depth(N)\}$.

Example 1

Consider a short exact sequence \[ 0 \to \Omega M \to P \to M \to 0 \] where $P$ is free defining the syzygy $\Omega M$. Then, we have \[ \depth(\Omega M) \geq \min\{\depth (R), \depth(M) + 1\}. \]

Example 2

Consider a short exact sequence \[ 0 \to M \xrightarrow{x} M \to M/xM \to 0 \quad . \] Then, we have \[ \depth(M/xM) \geq \min\{\depth (M), \depth(M) - 1\}. \]

Example 1 + 2

If $M \in \MCM(R)$ and $x$ is a nonzerodivisor in $R$, then $\Omega(M/xM) \in \MCM(R)$.

Question: Can we understand the map \[ M \mapsto \Omega(M/xM) \] on $\MCM(R)$?

Let $S = \mathbb{C}[[x_0, \ldots, x_d]]$ and $f$ be a nonzero nonunit element in $S$.

Knörrer: Put $R=S[y]/(f+y^2)$. Then, for any $M \in \MCM(R)$, we have \[\Omega(M/yM) \cong M \oplus \Omega M .\]

Herzog-Popescu: Put $R=S[y]/(f+y^k)$. Then, for any $M \in \MCM(R)$, we have \[\Omega(M/y^{k-1}M) \cong M \oplus \Omega M .\]

More generally: Let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian ring and $M$ be an $R$-module. Assume $x$ is a nonzerodivisor on $M$. Then, we have \[ \Omega(M/xM) \cong M \oplus \Omega M \] if and only if $x\Ext_R^1(M, \Omega M) = 0$.

Fun fact: We always have an equality \[\sann_R(M):= \ann_R\sEnd_R(M) = \ann_R\Ext_R^1(M, \Omega M) \]

The subcategory $\C(x)$

Let $M \in \MCM(R)$ and $x$ be a nonzerodivisor. Then, we have \[ \Omega (M/xM) \cong M \oplus \Omega M \iff x \in \sann_R(M) \]

Definition: \[ \C(x): = \{ M \in \MCM(R) \colon x \in \sann_R(M) \} \]

We will change this definition later.

This is a nice subcategory

\[ \C(x): = \{ M \in \MCM(R) \colon x \in \sann_R(M) \} \] It is closed under finite direct sums, direct summands, taking syzygies and it contains projectives.

$C(1) = \mathrm{proj}(R)$.

The singularity category

Hilbert's syzygy theorem

Let $S = \mathbb{C}[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ and $M$ be a finitely generated $R$-module. Then,

the $n$th syzygy module of $M$ is free.

the projective dimension of $M$ is at most $n$.

$M$ is quasi-isomorphic to a perfect complex of length at most $n$.

Question: Over which rings any finitely generated module is quasi-isomorphic to a perfect complex?

Question: Over which rings any bounded complex of finitely generated modules is quasi-isomorphic to a perfect complex?

Auslander-Buchsbaum-Serre and more: Regular rings.

Singularity Category: \[ \Dsing(R) := \frac{\mathsf{D}^{b}(R)}{\mathrm{perf}(R)} \quad .\]

Buchweitz's theorem

Let $R$ be a Gorenstein ring. Then,

$\MCM(R)$ $\hookrightarrow \mathrm{mod}(R)$ $\hookrightarrow \D^b(R)$ $\phantom{\MCM(R) \hookrightarrow \mathrm{mod}(R) \hookrightarrow} \downarrow$ $\phantom{\MCM(R) \hookrightarrow \mathrm{mod}(R) \hookrightarrow} \Dsing(R)$

gives an equivalence \[\underline{\MCM}(R) \cong \Dsing(R) \] of triangulated categories.

Now, for any commutative Noetherian ring, we define $\C(x)$ as \[\{ X \in \Dsing(R) \colon x\cdot \End_{\Dsing(R)}(X) = 0\} \]

Note: $X$ belongs to $\C(x)$ if and only if multiplication by $x$ on $X$ factors through a perfect complex.

$\C(x)$ is closed under finite direct sums, direct summands, shifts and it contains perfect complexes.

$C(1) = \mathrm{perf}(R)$.

An example

Let $R = \mathbb{C}[[x_0, \ldots, x_d]]/(f)$ be a hypersurface ring. Then, any MCM module is given by a matrix factorisation $(A,B)$ of $f$. Moreover, we have \[\underline{\MCM}(R) \cong \mathrm{HMF}(f) \] By the product rule, we have \[\frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} f = \frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} A \; B + A \frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} B \] In particular, multiplication by partial derivatives of $f$ is nullhomotopic. Hence, \[ \C(\frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} f) = \Dsing (R). \]

$\smd$ and $- * - $

Let $\A$ be an additive category and $\B$ be a subcategory. We denote by $\smd(\B)$ the subcategory of $\A$ consisting of direct summands of objects in $\B$.

Let $\T$ be an additive category and $\X, \Y$ be subcategories. We denote by $\X * \Y$ the subcategory of $\T$ consisting of objects $E \in \T$ such that there exists an exact triangle $X \to E \to Y \to X[1]$ with $X \in \X$ and $Y \in \Y$.

We have that

$*$ is associative. (8)

\begin{align*}\smd(\smd (\X) * \Y) &= \smd(\X * \Y) \\ &= \smd(\X * \smd(\Y)) \quad {\color{rgb(230,182,28)}{(\mathrm{BvdB})}}\end{align*}

Proposition: Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in R$. Then, \[\C(x_1 \cdots x_n) = \smd(\C(x_1) * \cdots * \C(x_n)) \]

Corollary: Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in R$ be such that $x_1 \cdots x_n \in \ann \Dsing(R)$. Then, \[\Dsing(R) = \smd(\C(x_1) * \cdots * \C(x_n)) \]

Koszul complex

The key observation which is used to prove the Proposition in the generality of all commutative Noetherian rings is the following:

\[\C(x) = \smd\{\K(x) \otimes X \colon X \in \Dsing(R) \} \]

For one direction, we recall that multiplication by $x$ on $\K(x)$ is nullhomotopic. For the other direction, we recall that we have a triangle $R \xrightarrow{x} R \to \K(x) \to R[1]$ in $\D^b(R)$. This gives us a triangle \[Y \xrightarrow{x} Y \to \K(x) \otimes Y \to Y[1] \] yielding an isomorphism $\K(x) \otimes Y \cong Y \oplus Y[1]$ when $Y \in \C(x)$.

Rouquier Dimension

Definitions

Let $\T$ be a triangulated category and $\X$ be a subcategory.

Denote by $\langle \X \rangle$ the smallest subcategory that contains $\X$ and is closed under finite direct sums, direct summands and shifts.

We put $\langle \X \rangle_0 = 0$ and define $\langle \X \rangle_n = \langle \langle \X \rangle_{n-1} * \langle \X \rangle \rangle$ for $n \geq 1$. Note that $\langle \X \rangle_1 = \langle \X\rangle$.

We define the Rouquier dimension as \[\dim \T = \inf\{ n \geq 0 \colon \langle G \rangle_{n+1} = \T \text{ for some } G \in \T \} \quad . \]

Theorem

Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n$ be elements of a commutative Noetherian ring $R$ such that the product $x_1 \cdot \cdot \cdot x_n$ belongs to $\mathrm{ann} \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R) $. We have \[ \dim \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R) \leq \sum_{i=1}^n \dim \mathsf{D}_{\mathrm{sg}}(R/x_i R) + n - 1 \]assuming that no $x_i$ is a unit or a zerodivisor.

Idea of the proof

Assume that \[\dim (\Dsing (R/x_i R)) = d_i < \infty \]

Pick $G_i \in \Dsing(R/x_i R)$ with \[\langle G \rangle_{d_i +1} = \Dsing(R/x_i R)\]

The surjection $R \to R/x_i R$ induces \[\Dsing(R/x_i R) \to \Dsing(R) \]

When $x$ is a nonzerodivisor, \begin{align*} \C(x) &= \{ \K(x) \otimes X \colon \Dsing(R) \} \\ &= \{R/x_i R \otimes^{\mathbf{L}} X \colon X \in \Dsing R \} \end{align*}

We have an inclusion \[\C(x_i) \subseteq \langle G_i \rangle_{d_i+1}^{\Dsing(R)} \]

Example

Let $R = \mathbb{C}[[x,y]]/(x^a + y^b)$ with $2 \leq a \leq b$. Then, \[x^{a-1} \in \ann_R \Dsing(R)\] So, we have \begin{align*}\dim \Dsing(R) &\leq (a-1) \dim \Dsing(\mathbb{C}[y]/y^b) + a-1 - 1 \\& =a-2 \end{align*}

Remarks and Poems

Recall the theorems of Knörrer and Herzog-Popescu?

Dugas and Leuschke: Some extensions of theorems of Knörrer and Herzog-Popescu (2021)

Our paper could have been called Some extensions of theorems of Dugas-Leuschke

Instead of nonzerodivisors, one can also use regular sequences.

One way to go about this is to use induction.

But we have another theorem which gives better results.

Example: $R = \mathbb{C}[[x,y,z,w]]/(f)$ with $f = x^3 + y^3 + xyz +w^2$.

We have \[x^3 = \frac{1}{3} x(3x^2+yz) - \frac{1}{3}z(xy) \text{ and } y^3 = \frac{1}{3} y(3y^2+xz) - \frac{1}{3}z(xy)\]

So, \[ \dim \Dsing(R) \leq 3 \cdot 3 \left( \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{3} \right)\cdot(1+1) - 1 = 11 \]

The ideal $\ann_R \Dsing(R)$ defines the singular locus of $R$ given that $\dim \Dsing(R)$ is finite (Liu 2023).

If $R$ is an isolated singularity, then $\ann_R \Dsing(R)$ is $\m$-primary.

A Poem

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an object of a triangulated category, he saw some ring elements who wanted to annihilate him but he rejected, he was not perfect, he was not free and definitely not projective. Last time he checked he was a subject, not an object. He did not know how to express himself. There is nothing wrong about it he tried to write a song about it, he had found an upper bound but did not like it, it was not his sound. The song he composed was not satisfactory, so he decided to decompose his ambient category.

Thank you