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Associated Primes

This document provides definitions and theorems related to the support and associated primes of modules over commutative rings. It begins by defining the support of a module as the set of primes where the localization is nonzero. For finitely generated modules over Noetherian rings, the support is the closed set defined by the annihilator ideal. Associated primes are defined as primes P such that there is an injective map from R/P to the module. The set of associated primes is shown to be finite for finitely generated modules over Noetherian rings. Several properties of support and associated primes are proven, including a prime cyclic filtration for finitely generated modules.

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99 views2 pages

Associated Primes

This document provides definitions and theorems related to the support and associated primes of modules over commutative rings. It begins by defining the support of a module as the set of primes where the localization is nonzero. For finitely generated modules over Noetherian rings, the support is the closed set defined by the annihilator ideal. Associated primes are defined as primes P such that there is an injective map from R/P to the module. The set of associated primes is shown to be finite for finitely generated modules over Noetherian rings. Several properties of support and associated primes are proven, including a prime cyclic filtration for finitely generated modules.

Uploaded by

gauarv verma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

(c)Karen E.

Smith 2019 UM Math Dept


licensed under a Creative Commons
By-NC-SA 4.0 International License.

Worksheet on Support and Associated Primes of Modules


Let R be a commutative ring with 1. Let M be an R module.

Definition. The support of M is the subset {P ∈ Spec R | MP 6= 0} ⊂ Spec R.

Proposition. If M is a finitely generated R-module, then Supp(M ) is the closed set of Spec R
given by V(annR (M )) where annR M is the ideal {r ∈ R | rM = 0}.

Definition. A prime P ∈ Spec R is an associated prime of M if and only if there is an injective


R-module map R/P ,→ M . The set of all associated primes of M is called the assassinator of
M and denoted Ass(M ).

Theorem 1. The set of associated primes of a non-zero finitely generated module over a Noe-
therian ring is non-empty and finite. That is, 0 < | Ass(M )| < ∞.

Definition. A zero-divisor on M is an element r ∈ R such that rm = 0 for some m ∈ M \ {0}.

Theorem 2. Let M be a finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring. The set of all
zero-divisors on M is the union of the Associated primes of M .

(1) Let M be an arbitrary R-module over an arbitrary ring R.


(a) Show the support M is empty if and only if M = 0. [Hint: Remember the worksheet on
localization!]
(b) Show that if P ∈ Supp(M ), then V(P ) ⊂ Supp(M ). [Hint: If Q ⊃ P , describe a natural
map MQ → MP .]
(c) Show that the support of R/I is V(I) ⊂ Spec R.
L
(2) Consider the Z-module M = p odd prime Z/pZ. Find the support of M and prove it is not
closed in Spec Z. Why doesn’t this contradict the Proposition? [Hint: Remember ⊗ distributes
over ⊕.]

(3) Proof of the Proposition. Let M be a finitely generated module over an arbitrary R.
(a) Show that annR M is an ideal of R.
(b) Show that if m1 , . . . , mn generate M , then annR (M ) = ni=1 annR (mi ).
T
(c) Prove Supp(M ) = V(annR (M )).

(4) Let M be an arbitrary R-module over an arbitrary ring R. Fix P ∈ Spec R.


(a) Show that ∈ Ass(M ) if and only if P = annR x for some non-zero x ∈ M .
(b) Show that if R is a domain, the only associated prime of R is h0i.
(c) Let R = K[x, y] and let M = R/hxy, x2 i. Show that {hxi, hx, yi} ⊂ Ass(M ). [Hint:
Use (a). It might also be useful to remember that K[x, y] is a UFD.]

(5) Show that Ass(M ) ⊂ Supp M for any M . [Hint: Use the fact that RP is a flat R-module, so it
preserves injections.]
2

(6) Let R = K[x, y]. Fix any maximal ideal m such that R/m ∼= K. Let M = HomK (R, R/m).
(a) Describe a natural R-module structure on M .
×r
(b) Show that the R-linear map R → M sending r to the composition R −→ R  R/m
induces an embedding R/m ,→ M .
(c) Show that m is an associated prime of HomK (R, K).

(7) Let R = K[x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . ]/J where J = hxt+1


t | t ∈ Ni. Prove that Spec R consists of one
point and that Ass R is empty. Why doesn’t this contradict Theorem 1? Is the reverse
inclusion in Problem (5) true?

(8) A Useful Lemma. Let R be Noetherian ring and M a non-zero R module. Show that
the set of ideals {J ⊂ R | ∃m ∈ M \ {0} s.t. J = annR (m)} has a maximal element, and
any such maximal element is prime. [Hint: If xy ∈ annR m, consider annR (xm). ]

(9) Proof of Theorem 2. Let M be a finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring.
(a) Let P ∈ AssR (M ). Prove every element of P is a zero-divisor on M . [Hint: Use (4a).]
(b) Assume that rm = 0 for some non-zero m ∈ M . Show that there exists s ∈ S such
that annR (sm) is prime and contains r. [Hint: Use ideas from (8).]
(c) Prove Theorem 2.

(10) Prime Cyclic Filtrations. In this problem we show that every non-zero finitely gen-
erated module M over a Noetherian ring R admits a filtration
0 = M0 ⊂ M1 ⊂ M2 ⊂ . . . Mn−1 ⊂ Mn = M
such that each subquotient Mi /Mi−1 ∼ = R/Pi for some Pi ∈ Spec R.
(a) Use Noetherian Induction to reduce to the case that every quotient of M has a prime
cyclic filtration. [Hint: Recall Noetherian Induction—if we have a counterexample M , mod out
by a submodule N maximal with respect the property that M/N is also a counterexample.]
(b) Use (8) to find x ∈ M such that R/P ∼ = xR ⊂ M for some P ∈ Spec R.
(c) Prove that every finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring has a prime cyclic
filtration. [Hint: Splice together R/P and a filtration for M/xR.]

(11) Proof of Theorem 1. Fix an arbittrary ring R.


(a) Prove that if P is prime, then Ass(R/P ) = {P }.
(b) Show that if 0 → M1 → M2 → M3 → 0 is an exact sequence of R-modules, then
Ass(M2 ) ⊂ Ass(M1 ) ∪ Ass(M3 ). [Hint: If P = ann x, consider two cases: either Rx ∩ M1 = 0 or
if not. Use (a) for the second case.]
Suppose that M0 ⊂ M1 ⊂ M2 ⊂ . . . Mn−1 ⊂ Mn = M . Show that Ass(M ) ⊂
(c) S
n
i=1 Mi /Mi−1 . [Hint: Use induction on n and (b).]
(d) Prove that Ass(M ) ⊂ {P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn }, the prime ideals appearing in a prime cyclic
filtration of M .
(e) Prove the Theorem on the finiteness of Ass(M ) for Noetherian M over Noetherian R.

(12) Let M and N be two finitely generated modules over a ring R.


(a) Assume (R, m) is local. Show that if M and N are non-zero, then so is M ⊗R N .
[Hint: Consider M ⊗R N → M/mM ⊗R N/mN ∼
= M ⊗R N ∼
= M/mM ⊗R/m N/mN.]
(b) Show that (M ⊗R N )P ∼
= MP ⊗RP NP .
(c) Show that Supp(M ⊗R N ) = Supp(M ) ∩ Supp(N ) as subsets of Spec R.

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