Let $F$ denote a binary form of order $d$ over the complex numbers. If $r$ is a divisor of $d$, then the Hilbert covariant $\mathcal{H}_{r,d}(F)$ vanishes exactly when $F$ is the perfect power of an order $r$ form. In geometric terms, the coefficients of $\mathcal{H}$ give defining equations for the image variety $X$ of an embedding $\mathbf{P}^r \hookrightarrow \mathbf{P}^d$. In this paper we describe a new construction of the Hilbert covariant; and simultaneously situate it into a wider class of covariants called the Göttingen covariants, all of which vanish on $X$. We prove that the ideal generated by the coefficients of $\mathcal{H}$ defines $X$ as a scheme. Finally, we exhibit a generalisation of the Göttingen covariants to $n$-ary forms using the classical Clebsch transfer principle.

Recent work of Ein-Lazarsfeld-Smith and Hochster-Huneke raised the problem of which symbolic powers of an ideal are contained in a given ordinary power of the ideal. Bocci-Harbourne developed methods to address this problem, which involve asymptotic numerical characters of symbolic powers of the ideals. Most of the work done up to now has been done for ideals defining 0-dimensional subschemes of projective space. Here we focus on certain subschemes given by a union of lines in $\mathbb{P}^3$ which can also be viewed as points in $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$. We also obtain results on the closely related problem, studied by Hochster and by Li-Swanson, of determining situations for which each symbolic power of an ideal is an ordinary power.

We prove that $r$ independent homogeneous polynomials of the same degree $d$ become dependent when restricted to any hyperplane if and only if their inverse system parameterizes a variety whose $(d-1)$-osculating spaces have dimension smaller than expected. This gives an equivalence between an algebraic notion (called Weak Lefschetz Property) and a differential geometric notion, concerning varieties which satisfy certain Laplace equations. In the toric case, some relevant examples are classified and as byproduct we provide counterexamples to Ilardi's conjecture.

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a coherent rank $2$ sheaf on a scheme $Y \subset \mathbb{P}^{n}$ of dimension at least two and let $X \subset Y$ be the zero set of a section $\sigma \in H^0(\mathcal{F})$. In this paper, we study the relationship between the functor that deforms the pair $(\mathcal{F},\sigma)$ and the two functors that deform $\mathcal{F}$ on $Y$, and $X$ in $Y$, respectively. By imposing some conditions on two forgetful maps between the functors, we prove that the scheme structure of \emph{e.g.,} the moduli scheme ${\rm M_Y}(P)$ of stable sheaves on a threefold $Y$ at $(\mathcal{F})$, and the scheme structure at $(X)$ of the Hilbert scheme of curves on $Y$ become closely related. Using this relationship, we get criteria for the dimension and smoothness of $ {\rm M_{Y}}(P)$ at $(\mathcal{F})$, without assuming $ {\textrm{Ext}^2}(\mathcal{F} ,\mathcal{F} ) = 0$. For reflexive sheaves on $Y=\mathbb{P}^{3}$ whose deficiency module $M = H_{*}^1(\mathcal{F})$ satisfies $ {_{0}\! \textrm{Ext}^2}(M ,M ) = 0 $ (\emph{e.g.,} of diameter at most 2), we get necessary and sufficient conditions of unobstructedness that coincide in the diameter one case. The conditions are further equivalent to the vanishing of certain graded Betti numbers of the free graded minimal resolution of $H_{*}^0(\mathcal{F})$. Moreover, we show that every irreducible component of ${\rm M}_{\mathbb{P}^{3}}(P)$ containing a reflexive sheaf of diameter one is reduced (generically smooth) and we compute its dimension. We also determine a good lower bound for the dimension of any component of ${\rm M}_{\mathbb{P}^{3}}(P)$ that contains a reflexive stable sheaf with ``small'' deficiency module $M$.

Let $(T,M)$ be a complete local (Noetherian) ring such that $\dim T\geq 2$ and $|T|=|T/M|$ and let $\{p_i\} _{i \in \mathcal I}$ be a collection of elements of T indexed by a set $\mathcal I$ so that $|\mathcal I | < |T|$. For each $i \in \mathcal{I}$, let $C_i$:={$Q_{i1}$,$\dots$,$Q_{in_i}$} be a set of nonmaximal prime ideals containing $p_i$ such that the $Q_{ij}$ are incomparable and $p_i\in Q_{jk}$ if and only if $i=j$. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions so that T is the ${\bf m}$-adic completion of a local unique factorization domain $(A, {\bf m})$, and for each $i \in \mathcal I$, there exists a unit $t_i$ of T so that $p_{i}t_i \in A$ and $C_i$ is the set of prime ideals $Q$ of $T$ that are maximal with respect to the condition that $Q \cap A = p_{i}t_{i}A$. We then use this result to construct a (nonexcellent) unique factorization domain containing many ideals for which tight closure and completion do not commute. As another application, we construct a unique factorization domain A most of whose formal fibers are geometrically regular.

The multiplicity conjecture of Herzog, Huneke, and Srinivasan is verified for the face rings of the following classes of simplicial complexes: matroid complexes, complexes of dimension one and two, and Gorenstein complexes of dimension at most four. The lower bound part of this conjecture is also established for the face rings of all doubly Cohen--Macaulay complexes whose 1-skeleton's connectivity does not exceed the codimension plus one as well as for all $(d-1)$-dimensional $d$-Cohen--Macaulay complexes. The main ingredient of the proofs is a new interpretation of the minimal shifts in the resolution of the face ring $\field[\Delta]$ via the Cohen--Macaulay connectivity of the skeletons of $\Delta$.

Let $G$ be a reductive connected linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic and let $\g$ be its Lie algebra. First we extend a well-known result about the Picard group of a semi-simple group to reductive groups. Then we prove that if the derived group is simply connected and $\g$ satisfies a mild condition, the algebra $K[G]^\g$ of regular functions on $G$ that are invariant under the action of $\g$ derived from the conjugation action is a unique factorisation domain.

We explore the geometric notion of prolongations in the setting of computational algebra, extending results of Landsberg and Manivel which relate prolongations to equations for secant varieties. We also develop methods for computing prolongations that are combinatorial in nature. As an application, we use prolongations to derive a new family of secant equations for the binary symmetric model in phylogenetics.

Let $(A,\m)$ be a Noetherian local ring with infinite residue field and let $I$ be an ideal in $A$ and let $F(I) = \bigoplus_{n \geq 0}I^n/\m I^n$ be the fiber cone of $I$. We prove certain relations among the Hilbert coefficients $f_0(I),f_1(I), f_2(I)$ of $F(I)$ when the $a$-invariant of the associated graded ring $G(I)$ is negative.

Let $R$ be a homomorphic image of a Gorenstein local ring. Recent work has shown that there is a bridge between Auslander categories and modules of finite Gorenstein homological dimensions over $R$. We use Gorenstein dimensions to prove new results about Auslander categories and vice versa. For example, we establish base change relations between the Auslander categories of the source and target rings of a homomorphism $\varphi \colon R \to S$ of finite flat dimension.

Natural sufficient conditions for a polynomial to have a local minimum at a point are considered. These conditions tend to hold with probability $1$. It is shown that polynomials satisfying these conditions at each minimum point have nice presentations in terms of sums of squares. Applications are given to optimization on a compact set and also to global optimization. In many cases, there are degree bounds for such presentations. These bounds are of theoretical interest, but they appear to be too large to be of much practical use at present. In the final section, other more concrete degree bounds are obtained which ensure at least that the feasible set of solutions is not empty.

In this paper we prove that a generalized version of the Minimal Resolution Conjecture given by Musta\c{t}\v{a} holds for certain general sets of points on a smooth cubic surface $X \subset \PP^3$. The main tool used is Gorenstein liaison theory and, more precisely, the relationship between the free resolutions of two linked schemes.

We obtain a uniform linear bound for the Chevalley function at a point in the source of an analytic mapping that is regular in the sense of Gabrielov. There is a version of Chevalley's lemma also along a fibre, or at a point of the image of a proper analytic mapping. We get a uniform linear bound for the Chevalley function of a closed Nash (or formally Nash) subanalytic set.

We prove a characteristic free version of Weyl's theorem on polarization. Our result is an exact analogue of Weyl's theorem, the difference being that our statement is about separating invariants rather than generating invariants. For the special case of finite group actions we introduce the concept of \emph{cheap polarization}, and show that it is enough to take cheap polarizations of invariants of just one copy of a representation to obtain separating vector invariants for any number of copies. This leads to upper bounds on the number and degrees of separating vector invariants of finite groups.

In a recent paper, F. Zanello showed that level Artinian algebras in 3 variables can fail to have the Weak Lefschetz Property (WLP), and can even fail to have unimodal Hilbert function. We show that the same is true for the Artinian reduction of reduced, level sets of points in projective 3-space. Our main goal is to begin an understanding of how the geometry of a set of points can prevent its Artinian reduction from having WLP, which in itself is a very algebraic notion. More precisely, we produce level sets of points whose Artinian reductions have socle types 3 and 4 and arbitrary socle degree $\geq 12$ (in the worst case), but fail to have WLP. We also produce a level set of points whose Artinian reduction fails to have unimodal Hilbert function; our example is based on Zanello's example. Finally, we show that a level set of points can have Artinian reduction that has WLP but fails to have the Strong Lefschetz Property. While our constructions are all based on basic double G-linkage, the implementations use very different methods.

An ideal $I$ of a ring $R$ is called a radical ideal if $I={\mathcalR}(R)$ where ${\mathcal R}$ is a radical in the sense of Kurosh--Amitsur. The main theorem of this paper asserts that if $R$ is a valuation domain, then a proper ideal $I$ of $R$ is a radical ideal if and only if $I$ is a distinguished ideal of $R$ (the latter property means that if $J$ and $K$ are ideals of $R$ such that $J\subset I\subset K$ then we cannot have $I/J\cong K/I$ as rings) and that such an ideal is necessarily prime. Examples are exhibited which show that, unlike prime ideals, distinguished ideals are not characterizable in terms of a property of the underlying value group of the valuation domain.

Two formulas for the multiplicity of the fiber cone $F(I)=\bigoplus_{n=0}^{\infty} I^n/\m I^n$ of an $\m$-primary ideal of a $d$-dimensional Cohen--Macaulay local ring $(R,\m)$ are derived in terms of the mixed multiplicity $e_{d-1}(\m | I)$, the multiplicity $e(I)$, and superficial elements. As a consequence, the Cohen--Macaulay property of $F(I)$ when $I$ has minimal mixed multiplicity or almost minimal mixed multiplicity is characterized in terms of the reduction number of $I$ and lengths of certain ideals. We also characterize the Cohen--Macaulay and Gorenstein properties of fiber cones of $\m$-primary ideals with a $d$-generated minimal reduction $J$ satisfying $\ell(I^2/JI)=1$ or $\ell(I\m/J\m)=1.$

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic 0, $R=k[x_1, \ldots, x_d]$ be a polynomial ring, and $\mm$ its maximal homogeneous ideal. Let $I \subset R$ be a homogeneous ideal in $R$. Let $\lambda(M)$ denote the length of an $R$-module $M$. In this paper, we show that $$ \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\l\bigl(H^0_{\mathfrak{m}}(R/I^n)\bigr)}{n^d} =\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\l\bigl(\Ext^d_R\bigl(R/I^n,R(-d)\bigr)\bigr)}{n^d} $$ always exists. This limit has been shown to be ${e(I)}/{d!}$ for $m$-primary ideals $I$ in a local Cohen--Macaulay ring, where $e(I)$ denotes the multiplicity of $I$. But we find that this limit may not be rational in general. We give an example for which the limit is an irrational number thereby showing that the lengths of these extention modules may not have polynomial growth.

In this article we prove some new results on projective normality, normal presentation and higher syzygies for surfaces of general type, not necessarily smooth, embedded by adjoint linear series. Some of the corollaries of more general results include: results on property $N_p$ associated to $K_S \otimes B^{\otimes n}$ where $B$ is base-point free and ample divisor with $B\otimes K^*$ {\it nef}, results for pluricanonical linear systems and results giving effective bounds for adjoint linear series associated to ample bundles. Examples in the last section show that the results are optimal.

In this paper, we find configurations of points in $n$-dimensional projective space ($\proj ^n$) which simultaneously generalize both $k$-configurations and reduced 0-dimensional complete intersections. Recall that $k$-configurations in $\proj ^2$ are disjoint unions of distinct points on lines and in $\proj ^n$ are inductively disjoint unions of $k$-configurations on hyperplanes, subject to certain conditions. Furthermore, the Hilbert function of a $k$-configuration is determined from those of the smaller $k$-configurations. We call our generalized constructions $k_D$-configurations, where $D=\{ d_1, \ldots ,d_r\}$ (a set of $r$ positive integers with repetition allowed) is the type of a given complete intersection in $\proj ^n$. We show that the Hilbert function of any $k_D$-configuration can be obtained from those of smaller $k_D$-configurations. We then provide applications of this result in two different directions, both of which are motivated by corresponding results about $k$-configurations.

Let $\cal H$ be a complex separable Hilbert space and ${\cal L}({\cal H})$ denote the collection of bounded linear operators on ${\cal H}$. An operator $A$ in ${\cal L}({\cal H})$ is said to be strongly irreducible, if ${\cal A}^{\prime}(T)$, the commutant of $A$, has no non-trivial idempotent. An operator $A$ in ${\cal L}({\cal H})$ is said to a Cowen-Douglas operator, if there exists $\Omega$, a connected open subset of $C$, and $n$, a positive integer, such that (a) ${\Omega}{\subset}{\sigma}(A)=\{z{\in}C; A-z {\text {not invertible}}\};$ (b) $\ran(A-z)={\cal H}$, for $z$ in $\Omega$; (c) $\bigvee_{z{\in}{\Omega}}$\ker$(A-z)={\cal H}$ and (d) $\dim \ker(A-z)=n$ for $z$ in $\Omega$. In the paper, we give a similarity classification of strongly irreducible Cowen-Douglas operators by using the $K_0$-group of the commutant algebra as an invariant.

We study the Hilbert functions of fat points in $\popo$. If $Z \subseteq \popo$ is an arbitrary fat point scheme, then it can be shown that for every $i$ and $j$ the values of the Hilbert function $_{Z}(l,j)$ and $H_{Z}(i,l)$ eventually become constant for $l \gg 0$. We show how to determine these eventual values by using only the multiplicities of the points, and the relative positions of the points in $\popo$. This enables us to compute all but a finite number values of $H_{Z}$ without using the coordinates of points. We also characterize the ACM fat point schemes sing our description of the eventual behaviour. In fact, n the case that $Z \subseteq \popo$ is ACM, then the entire Hilbert function and its minimal free resolution depend solely on knowing the eventual values of the Hilbert function.

Eventual positivity problems for real convergent Maclaurin series lead to density questions for sets of harmonic functions. These are solved for large classes of series, and in so doing, asymptotic estimates are obtained for the values of the series near the radius of convergence and for the coefficients of convolution powers.

A topology on $\mathbb{Z}$, which gives a nice proof that the set of prime integers is infinite, is characterised and examined. It is found to be homeomorphic to $\mathbb{Q}$, with a compact completion homeomorphic to the Cantor set. It has a natural place in a family of topologies on $\mathbb{Z}$, which includes the $p$-adics, and one in which the set of rational primes $\mathbb{P}$ is dense. Examples from number theory are given, including the primes and squares, Fermat numbers, Fibonacci numbers and $k$-free numbers.

An $E$-ring is a unital ring $R$ such that every endomorphism of the underlying abelian group $R^+$ is multiplication by some ring element. The existence of almost-free $E$-rings of cardinality greater than $2^{\aleph_0}$ is undecidable in $\ZFC$. While they exist in G\"odel's universe, they do not exist in other models of set theory. For a regular cardinal $\aleph_1 \leq \lambda \leq 2^{\aleph_0}$ we construct $E$-rings of cardinality $\lambda$ in $\ZFC$ which have $\aleph_1$-free additive structure. For $\lambda=\aleph_1$ we therefore obtain the existence of almost-free $E$-rings of cardinality $\aleph_1$ in $\ZFC$.