In his answer 
 [here](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/2022/definition-and-meaning-of-the-conductor-of-an-elliptic-curve)
 Qing Liu mentioned "the 'discriminant' of X which measures the defect of a functorial isomorphism which involves powers of the relative dualizing sheaf of X/R." 


Could somebody give a reference for or explain this?


I ask because there is a natural definition of conductor of a proper morphism to a normal scheme (for example as in Serre's "Algebraic groups and class fields"), and some relationship between the conductor and discriminant, but the definitions of discriminants I have seen always seem situation-specific and ad-hoc. 


Thanks.



"Nice" definition of discriminant as alluded to in an answer of Qing Liu
The "magistral paper of Takeshi Saito" mentioned by Qing Liu is the following: 'Conductor, Discriminant, and the Noether formula of Arithmetic surfaces', Duke Math Journal, vol. 57, no. 1. See here if you have a subscription to Duke: projecteuclid.org/euclid.dmj/1077306852 The definition of the discriminant is at the top of the second page. Or see section three of Liu's notes which he referenced in his reply to which you provided a link.


But for what it's worth, here is a quick answer (basically copied from Saito's paper):


Let $T$ be a nice scheme (spectrum of a field is enough for us), and $g:Y\to T$ a relative curve (i.e. geometrically connected, proper, relative dimension one). When $Y$ is smooth over $T$, there is a functorial isomorphism $\Delta:\det Rg\_\*(\omega\_{Y/T}^{\otimes 2})\to(\det Rg\_\*\omega\_{Y/T})^{\otimes 13}$. This is due to Deligne (from [this unpublished letter to Quillen](http://publications.ias.edu/sites/default/files/Lettre-a-Quillen.pdf), link thanks to [D. Eriksson's answer](https://mathoverflow.net/a/178010/250)).


Now let $\mathcal{O}\_K$ be a Henselian discrete valuation ring with algebraically closed residue field, put $S=\mbox{Spec}\mathcal{O}\_K$, 
and let $X\to S$ be a relative curve which is regular. We have an invertible $\mathcal{O}\_K$-module


$V=\mbox{Hom} (\det Rg\_\*(\omega\_{X/S}^{\otimes 2}),(\det Rg\_\*\omega\_{X/S})^{\otimes 13})$.


and Deligne's result, applied to the generic fibre of $X$, produces a natural element $\Delta\in V\otimes\_{\mathcal{O}\_K} K$. The discriminant of $X$ is defined to be the order of $\Delta$ (that is, the unique $d\in\mathbb{Z}$ such that $\mathcal{O}\_K\Delta=\mathfrak{p}^d V$).


I do not know if there is a similar notion of discriminant for higher dimensional $S$-schemes.


