Laurent polynomial ring Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
A Laurent polynomial ring is the localization of a ring obtained by inverting all variables. Its elements are finite sums of Laurent polynomials with exponent vectors in . It is a Noetherian ring by the Hilbert basis theorem and Localization of a Noetherian ring.
The Laurent polynomial ring is a localization of a ring:
The Hilbert basis theorem makes a Noetherian ring, and Localization of a Noetherian ring preserves this property. Thus .
For separating finite Laurent support by an integer weight, take a nonzero Laurent polynomial and let be its finite set of exponent pairs with nonzero coefficients. Choose an integer such that
where the maximum is zero if has only one member. Set . If , then
so and then . Consequently all powers of in are distinct. The linear independence of the Laurent monomials prevents cancellation, giving
The choice depends on the finite support of ; a single fixed substitution need not detect every nonzero element.
For Noetherianity of subalgebras of a one-variable Laurent polynomial ring, let be a unital -subalgebra of . If , it is already a Noetherian ring. Otherwise we find a nonconstant and an ambient ring containing such that is a finitely generated module over .
If , choose a nonconstant polynomial in , where . Then is an integral element over , since it satisfies the monic polynomial equation
Thus is a finitely generated module over , generated by . The case is identical after replacing by .
In the remaining case is contained in neither of these two polynomial rings. There is an element with a positive exponent and an element with a negative exponent. If either already has both, use it as . Otherwise their sum has both, since the positive powers of the first and the negative powers of the second cannot cancel. We obtain
Multiplying this identity by gives a polynomial equation for with leading coefficient :
Dividing by makes it monic. Similarly, multiplication by gives a monic equation for after division by . Both generators are therefore integral elements over , so is a finitely generated module over .
In all three cases is a Noetherian ring, as a quotient of a one-variable polynomial ring. The subalgebra is also a -submodule, so it is a Noetherian module. Every ideal of is a -submodule of and is therefore finitely generated over , hence over . This proves
For the final request, take the following subalgebra of the two-variable Laurent polynomial ring:
Let , an ideal of . We have
as -vector spaces. In particular, the classes of , for , are linearly independent. If had finitely many generators as an -module, their classes would span over , contradicting its infinite dimension. Hence is not finitely generated and is not a Noetherian ring. This illustrates why the preceding result is special to one Laurent variable.
Put and . Evaluation at is surjective, and
so its kernel is the prime ideal . In particular is naturally an -module, generated by the classes of .
For integers , including negative integers, reduction modulo gives
For negative powers, this follows from and ; the mixed product vanishes modulo . Therefore a Laurent polynomial satisfies
The formal derivatives obey the product rule, so . If , both terms vanish. Hence both vanish on and define a map
It sends to and to , and the displayed expansion gives its inverse. Thus the conormal module has the explicit basis
Let be the localization at a prime ideal, with maximal ideal . Every nonzero integer lies outside and is therefore inverted. The residue field is
Indeed there is an explicit identification
inverting and has no effect in this local ring, and a polynomial denominator lies outside precisely when its constant term is nonzero. Conversely, clearing rational denominators turns every such fraction into a fraction from .
For the Krull dimension, the prime ideal correspondence for localization preserves the strict chain
of prime ideals in . They are prime because the successive quotients are the integral domains , , and . They remain distinct after localization at a prime ideal because they are all contained in . Hence .
For the upper bound, is a Noetherian ring by the Hilbert basis theorem and Localization of a Noetherian ring. Since is generated by two elements, the Krull height theorem gives . The prime ideal correspondence for localization identifies with , so
A Noetherian local ring with residue field is a regular local ring if
By the Nakayama lemma, the dimension on the left is the minimal number of generators of ; this is also called the embedding dimension.
The localization of a module is exact and commutes with quotients and products of ideals. Applying it to the already computed conormal module gives the cotangent space of a local ring
Its dimension is two, equal to . Therefore . Notice that has a basis over , whereas the localized cotangent space of a local ring has a basis over the residue field .
The set is a multiplicative subset, since . The localization of a ring consists of fractions , where
Similarly, the localization of a module consists of fractions , with the analogous equivalence relation. The canonical maps are
The Localization of a Noetherian ring is Noetherian. Since a finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring is a Noetherian module, localizing a finite generating set shows that is Noetherian over .
The prime ideal correspondence for localization identifies with the primes disjoint from . Here
so the spectrum of localization away from one plus an ideal is
An element maps to zero exactly when for some . Such an equation gives for every , proving one inclusion. Conversely, suppose . The Artin-Rees lemma applied to says that for some ,
Taking gives , so for some . Then and . Thus
For failure without Noetherianity, take
The strict chain shows that is not Noetherian. Since , one has , and hence . But is an integral domain, so its localization map into is injective. This is the non-Noetherian failure of the intersection formula for localization.
Let be an ideal of and contract it to an ideal of . Every element has , so and
Because is a Noetherian ring, write . Then
so every ideal of is finitely generated. Hence every localization of a Noetherian ring is Noetherian, proving the Localization of a Noetherian ring theorem.