Macaulay2 / Macaulay2/M2

Reporting infinite projective dimension

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Description

Right now, pdim is a synonym for the length of a minimal "resolution": pdim Module := M -> length resolution minimalPresentation M. Thus if $S$ is a polynomial ring, $R=S/I$ and $M$ is an $R$-module, then you'll always be told that pdim M is $\leq \dim S+1$ (since $\dim S$ is the default LengthLimit option for resolution).

However, I think we can effectively detect when $\mathrm{pdim}\ M = \infty$ without doing any additional calculations: if $\mathrm{pdim}\ M$ were finite, we have $\mathrm{pdim}\ M\leq \mathrm{depth}\ R \leq \mathrm{dim}\ S$. Exactly two things can happen: $M$ has finite pdim and thus the length of res R (which will be $<\dim S+1$) really is pdim M, or it doesn't, in which case pdim outputs $\dim S +1$. What do people think about returning infinity if the length of the calculated resolution is $\mathrm{dim}\ S +1$? I realize that this is a trivial mental translation for the user to make, but I like the idea of a more mathematically meaningful output.

(All of the above assumes $R=S/I$ is graded, but I think that's essentially the current state of pdim anyways.)

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Research direction

Start by locating the implementation of pdim and how it calls minimalPresentation with the LengthLimit option; compare the returned resolution length with the proposed bound involving dim S. Review the existing behavior for res R and determine how an infinite projective dimension should be represented, then add or update coverage for the finite and boundary cases.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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