Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 21 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We first prove the local algebra fact behind regularity in codimension one. Let be a one-dimensional normal Noetherian local domain. Choose . Its radical is , so some lies in ; take minimal . If , then . Otherwise choose and put in the fraction field. We have but .
If , express multiplication by on a finite generating set of . The determinant trick gives a monic polynomial in annihilating ; as this ideal is nonzero in a domain, the polynomial itself vanishes. Normality would then give , a contradiction. Hence there is with a unit of . Every satisfies , proving . The maximal ideal therefore has one generator in dimension one, so is a regular local ring, indeed a discrete valuation ring. This proves one-dimensional normal local rings are discrete valuation rings directly.
Now a codimension-one point of the normal variety has such a local ring, and a codimension-zero local ring is a field. Both are regular. Since the algebraically closed ground field is perfect, regularity and smoothness agree for this finite-type variety, and the Jacobian criterion makes the singular locus closed. It contains no codimension-zero or codimension-one point. Therefore every irreducible component of the singular locus has codimension at least two, givingFor this means the singular locus is empty. In particular the singular set itself is the required closed subset, not merely a set contained in some larger one.