This volume collects contributions by leading experts in the area of commutative algebra related to the INdAM meeting “Homological and Computational Methods in Commutative Algebra” held in Cortona (Italy) from May 30 to June 3, 2016 . The conference and this volume are dedicated to Winfried Bruns on the occasion of his 70th birthday. In particular, the topics of this book strongly reflect the variety of Winfried Bruns’ research interests and his great impact on commutative algebra as well as its applications to related fields. The authors discuss recent and relevant developments in algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, computational algebra, discrete geometry and homological algebra. The book offers a unique resource, both for young and more experienced researchers seeking comprehensive overviews and extensive bibliographic references.

This ACM volume deals with tackling problems that can be represented by data structures which are essentially matrices with polynomial entries, mediated by the disciplines of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. The discoveries stem from an interdisciplinary branch of research which has been growing steadily over the past decade. The author covers a wide range, from showing how to obtain deep heuristics in a computation of a ring, a module or a morphism, to developing means of solving nonlinear systems of equations - highlighting the use of advanced techniques to bring down the cost of computation. Although intended for advanced students and researchers with interests both in algebra and computation, many parts may be read by anyone with a basic abstract algebra course.

In this book we want to explore aspects of coherence in homological algebra, that already appear in the classical situation of abelian groups or abelian categories. Lattices of subobjects are shown to play an important role in the study of homological systems, from simple chain complexes to all the structures that give rise to spectral sequences. A parallel role is played by semigroups of endorelations. These links rest on the fact that many such systems, but not all of them, live in distributive sublattices of the modular lattices of subobjects of the system. The property of distributivity allows one to work with induced morphisms in an automatically consistent way, as we prove in a 'Coherence Theorem for homological algebra'. (On the contrary, a 'non-distributive' homological structure like the bifiltered chain complex can easily lead to inconsistency, if one explores the interaction of its two spectral sequences farther than it is normally done.) The same property of distributivity also permits representations of homological structures by means of sets and lattices of subsets, yielding a precise foundation for the heuristic tool of Zeeman diagrams as universal models of spectral sequences. We thus establish an effective method of working with spectral sequences, called 'crossword chasing', that can often replace the usual complicated algebraic tools and be of much help to readers that want to apply spectral sequences in any field.

This book develops the machinery of homological algebra and its applications to commutative rings and modules. It assumes familiarity with basic commutative algebra, for example, as covered in the author's book, Commutative Algebra. The first part of the book is an elementary but thorough exposition of the concepts of homological algebra, starting from categorical language up to the construction of derived functors and spectral sequences. A full proof of the celebrated Freyd-Mitchell theorem on the embeddings of small Abelian categories is included. The second part of the book is devoted to the application of these techniques in commutative algebra through the study of projective, injective, and flat modules, the construction of explicit resolutions via the Koszul complex, and the properties of regular sequences. The theory is then used to understand the properties of regular rings, Cohen-Macaulay rings and modules, Gorenstein rings and complete intersections. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about homological algebra and its applications in commutative algebra. The clear and thorough presentation of the material, along with the many examples and exercises of varying difficulty, make it an excellent choice for self-study or as a reference for researchers.

This is a comprehensive review of commutative algebra, from localization and primary decomposition through dimension theory, homological methods, free resolutions and duality, emphasizing the origins of the ideas and their connections with other parts of mathematics. The book gives a concise treatment of Grobner basis theory and the constructive methods in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry that flow from it. Many exercises included.

Determinantal rings and varieties have been a central topic of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. Their study has attracted many prominent researchers and has motivated the creation of theories which may now be considered part of general commutative ring theory. The book gives a first coherent treatment of the structure of determinantal rings. The main approach is via the theory of algebras with straightening law. This approach suggest (and is simplified by) the simultaneous treatment of the Schubert subvarieties of Grassmannian. Other methods have not been neglected, however. Principal radical systems are discussed in detail, and one section is devoted to each of invariant and representation theory. While the book is primarily a research monograph, it serves also as a reference source and the reader requires only the basics of commutative algebra together with some supplementary material found in the appendix. The text may be useful for seminars following a course in commutative ring theory since a vast number of notions, results, and techniques can be illustrated significantly by applying them to determinantal rings.

First Published in 2018. This book grew out of a course of lectures given to third year undergraduates at Oxford University and it has the modest aim of producing a rapid introduction to the subject. It is designed to be read by students who have had a first elementary course in general algebra. On the other hand, it is not intended as a substitute for the more voluminous tracts such as Zariski-Samuel or Bourbaki. We have concentrated on certain central topics, and large areas, such as field theory, are not touched. In content we cover rather more ground than Northcott and our treatment is substantially different in that, following the modern trend, we put more emphasis on modules and localization.

This unique book on commutative algebra is divided into two parts in order to facilitate its use in several types of courses. The first introductory part covers the basic theory, connections with algebraic geometry, computational aspects, and extensions to module theory. The more advanced second part covers material such as associated primes and primary decomposition, local rings, M-sequences and Cohen-Macaulay modules, and homological methods.

Homology is a powerful tool used by mathematicians to study the properties of spaces and maps that are insensitive to small perturbations. This book uses a computer to develop a combinatorial computational approach to the subject. The core of the book deals with homology theory and its computation. Following this is a section containing extensions to further developments in algebraic topology, applications to computational dynamics, and applications to image processing. Included are exercises and software that can be used to compute homology groups and maps. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in mathematics, computer science, engineering, and nonlinear dynamics.

The landscape of homological algebra has evolved over the last half-century into a fundamental tool for the working mathematician. This book provides a unified account of homological algebra as it exists today. The historical connection with topology, regular local rings, and semi-simple Lie algebras are also described. This book is suitable for second or third year graduate students. The first half of the book takes as its subject the canonical topics in homological algebra: derived functors, Tor and Ext, projective dimensions and spectral sequences. Homology of group and Lie algebras illustrate these topics. Intermingled are less canonical topics, such as the derived inverse limit functor lim1, local cohomology, Galois cohomology, and affine Lie algebras. The last part of the book covers less traditional topics that are a vital part of the modern homological toolkit: simplicial methods, Hochschild and cyclic homology, derived categories and total derived functors. By making these tools more accessible, the book helps to break down the technological barrier between experts and casual users of homological algebra.