arXiv:1701.02575v1 [] 10 Jan 2017

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME
CHARACTERISTIC
DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Abstract. This article is concerned with the asymptotic behavior of certain sequences of ideals in rings of prime characteristic.
These sequences, which we call p-families of ideals, are ubiquitous
in prime characteristic commutative algebra (e.g., they occur naturally in the theories of tight closure, Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity,
and F -signature). We associate to each p-family of ideals an object in Euclidean space that is analogous to the Newton-Okounkov
body of a graded family of ideals, which we call a p-body. Generalizing the methods used to establish volume formulas for the
Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity and F -signature of semigroup rings, we
relate the volume of a p-body to a certain asymptotic invariant
determined by the corresponding p-family of ideals. We apply
these methods to obtain new existence results for limits in positive characteristic, an analogue of the Brunn-Minkowski theorem
for Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity, and a uniformity result concerning
the positivity of a p-family.

1. Introduction
This article is concerned with limits of certain sequences indexed
by the powers of a prime integer p > 0, typically the characteristic
of some fixed ambient ring. To simplify notation, q will often denote
an integral power of this prime integer; explicitly, q = pe for some
nonnegative integer e. Thus, a sequence of rational numbers {λpe }∞
e=0
e
as
lim
λ
.
is often written as {λq }∞
,
and
the
limit
lim
λ
q
p
q=1
e→∞

q→∞

Hernández was supported in part by the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
DMS #1304250 and NSF grant DMS #1600702.
Jeffries was supported in part by the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
DMS #1606353.
1

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

1.1. Numerical limits in prime characteristic. Let (R, m) be a
reduced local ring of prime characteristic p > 0 and dimension d, and
let ℓR (M) = ℓ(M) denote the length of an R-module M. If q is a power
of p, then Rq is the subring of R consisting of q-th powers.
In [17], Kunz showed that the following conditions are equivalent:
(1) R is a regular local ring.
(2) ℓR (R/m[q] ) = q d for some (equivalently, every) q a power of p.
(3) R is flat over Rq for some (equivalently, every) q a power of p.
This theorem has inspired many numerical approaches to measuring
the failure of a ring of positive characteristic to be regular. One of
the first such avenues was initiated by Kunz [18], who investigated the
function q 7→ ℓR (R/I [q] ), where q is a power of p and I is some fixed
m-primary ideal of R, now called the Hilbert-Kunz function of I. While
the definition of this function is analogous to that of the Hilbert-Samuel
function of I given by t 7→ ℓR (R/I t ), which agrees with a polynomial
for large values of t, the Hilbert-Kunz function exhibits much more
subtle behavior [10].
Nonetheless, Monsky showed in [20] that the limit
(1.1)

ℓR (R/I [q] )
e→∞
qd

eHK (I, R) := lim

exists for any m-primary ideal I. As with the Hilbert-Kunz function, this Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity is a more subtle analogue of its
characteristic-free counterpart; e.g., it may take irrational values [3].
Another similar approach to quantifying singularity using the Frobenius map is given by counting for each q a power of the characteristic,
the maximal rank aq (R) of an Rq -free summand of R. Under the simplifying assumption that the residue field of R is perfect, Kunz’ theorem
tells us that aq (R) is equal to the q d , the rank of R as an Rq -module,
if and only if R is regular.
The limit
aq (R)
(1.2)
s(R) := lim
q→∞
qd
is studied in [29], and is defined in [13] as the F -signature of R, provided
the limit exists. Subsequent works showed that this number captures

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 3

sensitive information about the ring, e.g., s(R) (as a limit superior)
is equal to 1 if and only if R is regular [13], is greater than zero if
and only if R is strongly F -regular [1], and is equal to the infimum of
differences of Hilbert-Kunz multiplicities of a pair of nested m-primary
ideals [37, 38, 25].
The F -signature of affine semigroup rings was studied in [26, 37, 33].
It was shown in these cases that the limit exists, is rational, and is equal
to the volume of a certain rational polytope, the Watanabe-YoshidaVon Korff polytope constructed from R.
The existence of the limit in the definition of s(R) was established
by Tucker in 2012 [31]. His approach uses a characterization of Yao
[38] of the term aq (R) as the length of cyclic modules R/Iq (see Section 6). Then, using uniform estimates on Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity,
it is shown that the sequence q −d · ℓR (R/Iq ) tends to a limit if and only
if the sequence q −d · eHK (Iq , R) does, and that the second sequence is
nonincreasing and bounded below by zero. A simplified treatment of
this proof, utilizing a lemma of Dutta, can be found in [12]. These techniques have inspired further results, e.g., concerning the upper semicontinuity of Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity [27], the lower semicontinuity
of F -signature [24], and relations between Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity
and F -signature [25].
Another related limit, associated to an arbitrary ideal I of R is
the generalized Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity, introduced by Epstein and
Yao [8]:
(1.3)

ℓR (Hm0 (R/I [q] ))
,
q→∞
q

egHK (I, R) := lim

provided the limit exists. This multiplicity is studied further by Dao
and Smirnov [6], who show the limit above exists for all ideals in a
complete intersection with an isolated singularity. They also show
that, in such rings, vanishing of egHK (I, R) characterizes ideals I of
finite projective dimension. This generalized multiplicity and related
analogues are utilized by Brenner [3] in his proof of the existence of
irrational Hilbert-Kunz multiplicities. Vraciu [35] proved that, under
the assumption that every ideal of R satisfies Huneke’s condition (LC)

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

(see Section 6), the generalized Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity exists. As
this hypothesis on the ring is poorly understood, it is remains an open
question whether this limit exists in general, and it is of interest to find
other conditions under which this limit exists.
1.2. Numerical limits via Okounkov bodies. Another recent development concerning limits in algebra and algebraic geometry is the
introduction of the method of Okounkov bodies. In [22] and [23], Okounkov established a method for associating a convex body, now called
an Okounkov body, to the complete linear series H 0 (X, OX (mD)) of
an ample divisor D on a smooth projective variety X. This geometric structure is then employed to establish many properties regarding
the growth of these linear series, including the existence of limits and
log-concavity. This construction of Okounkov bodies is generalized to
incomplete linear series on big divisors with further applications in [19].
Similar constructions have been employed to study the growth of
colengths of graded families of ideals, i.e., sequences of ideals
I• = {In }∞
n=1

with Ia · Ib ⊆ Ia+b for all a, b ∈ N.

In work of Ein, Lazarsfeld, and Smith [7] and Mustaţă [21], the limit
ℓR (R/In )
nd
is studied and is shown to exist for every graded family I• of m-primary
ideals in a regular local ring (R, m) containing a field. In [15], Kaveh
and Khovanskii apply valuation theory to construct convex bodies associated to graded families of ideals and graded algebras, as well as giving
an alternative construction of Okounkov bodies for linear systems.
The approach of using valuation theory to constuct Okounkov bodies
to study numerical limits measuring the growth of graded families in
local rings was greatly extended in work of Cutkosky [4, 5], who showed
that, for any local ring (R, m), if the R-module dimension of the nilradical of R̂ has dimension strictly less than that of R, then the limit
(1.4) exists for every graded family I• of m-primary ideals. Moreover,
this is the strongest possible result, in the sense that if this limit exists
for every such graded family, then the inequality on dimensions holds.
(1.4)

lim

n→∞

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 5

A key application of this work is the existence of the ε-multiplicity of
Katz and Validashti [14] and Ulrich and Validashti [32] for all ideals in
an analytically unramified ring.
Roughly speaking, the general approach of Cutkosky’s existence theorem [4, 5] may be outlined as follows: First reduce to the case of a
complete local domain. Then:
(1) Construct a suitable valuation on the ring R.
(2) Observe that the values associated to elements in a graded family admit a combinatorial structure (semigroups).
(3) Compute the relevant R-module lengths by counting certain
points in this combinatorial structure.
(4) Show that the rate of growth of the number of elements in the
combinatorial structure is equal to the Euclidean volume of a
region (Okounkov bodies).
The steps above also form a rough outline for the existence and subadditivity results in [22, 23, 19, 15]. One major difference between
Okounkov bodies in the geometric setting of linear series on smooth
varieties and in the local setting of graded families on possibly singular
domains lies the first step. In particular, the standard construction
of such a valuation from a flag of smooth subvarieties as in [19] only
makes sense in the case R is regular.
1.3. Results in the present work. The motivating idea behind this
paper is to study numerical limits in positive characteristic by the technique of expressing such limits as Euclidean volumes as in Cutkosky’s
proof; that is, to apply the methods outlined in Subsection 1.2 to the
setting of Subsection 1.1. One immediate obstacle is that the limits
considered in Equations (1.1), (1.2), and (1.3) do not come as growth
of colengths of graded families of ideals. However, the chains of ideals
that do appear admit another type of structure, identified in the work
of Tucker [31]:
Definition 1.1. A p-family of ideals is a sequence of ideals
I• = {Ipe }∞
e=1

with Iq[p] ⊆ Ipq for all q a power of p.

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Examples of p-families of ideals include the sequence of Frobenius
powers of an ideal, the sequence obtained by taking the saturation of
the Frobenius powers of an ideal, and the sequence of ideals appearing
in the characterization of F -signature [31, Lemma 4.4].
Since we consider similar limits throughout, we will use a shorthand
notation: If (R, m) is a local ring of characteristic p > 0, and I• is a
p-family of m-primary ideals of R, then the volume of I• is
volR (I• ) := lim

q→∞

ℓR (R/Iq )
qd

where q varies through powers pe of the characteristic p.
Given this terminology, we may state our main results.
Theorem 1.2. Let (R, m) be a ring of prime characteristic p > 0 and
Krull dimension d. The limit volR (I• ) exists for every p-family I• of
m-primary ideals of R if and only if the dimension (as an R-module)
of the nilradical of the completion of R is less than d.
Moreover, if R is reduced and excellent, and I• and J• are p-families
of ideals of R such that Iq ⊆ Jq and Iq ∩ mcq = Jq ∩ mcq for every q
and some c independent of q, then the limit
lim

q→∞

ℓR (Jq /Iq )
qd

exists.
The following example illustrates the necessity of the hypothesis on
the dimension of the nilradical of the completion of R.
Example 1.3. The nilradical of R = Fp Jx, yK/y 2 is generated by the
class of y, and so its R-module dimension is 1. Let {kq }∞
q=1 be a see
quence of integers indexed by powers q = p of p with 0 ≤ kq < q, and
for every q let Iq be either the ideal generated by the class of xq , or by
the classes of xq and xkq y. Though we allow this choice to vary with
q, the Frobenius power Iq[p] is always generated by the class of xpq , and
so the sequence {Iq }∞
q=1 is a p-family in R. However, depending on the
choice of Iq , the length of R/Iq equals either 2q or q + kq . Thus, there
are many p-families in R for which the limit volR (I• ) does not exist.

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 7

The proof of the positive part of this result follows a different method
than that of [31], yielding the new existence result for pairs of p-families.
Key corollaries of this theorem include new cases of the existence of
generalized Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity, e.g., for ideals of dimension one
in graded rings, and a new uniform proof of the existence of both
Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity and F -signature. Moreover, our proof of the
above theorem realizes the limit as the Euclidean volume of a region
in Rd that in the case of F -signature of normal semigroup rings agrees
with the Watanabe-Yoshida-Von Korff polytope.
The idea behind the proof is in fact very simple and illuminating.
As with Cutkosky’s existence proofs, we utilize a suitable valuation,
identify a natural combinatorial structure on the set of values that
arise (a p-system of semigroup ideals), and prove that the growth rate
of the number of elements in the combinatorial structure is equal to the
volume of a region in Euclidean space (a p-body). The main technical
mass of the paper consists in this last step, other than reductions to
the complete domain case that follow along similar lines as Cutkosky’s
arguments.
While the regions we obtain are not convex (in contrast with Okounkov bodies arising from graded families, which are convex), they
are convex relative to a cone. This structure allows us to find new relations on p-families and limits in positive characteristic. For example,
we obtain an analogue of the Brunn-Minkowski inequality:
Theorem 1.4. Let I• and J• be m-primary p-families in a d-dimensional
excellent local domain (R, m) of characteristic p > 0. If L• is the pfamily whose q-th term is the product of Iq and Jq , then
volR (I• )1/d + volR (J• )1/d ≥ volR (L• )1/d .
We also obtain a uniformity result on p-families of ideals:
Theorem 1.5. Let I• be an m-primary p-family of ideals in a ddimensional excellent local domain (R, m) of characteristic p > 0. Then
the limit volR (I• ) is positive if and only if there exists a power q◦ of p
such that Iqq◦ ⊆ m[q] for all q = pe .

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

In Section 2, we review some basic notions in convex Euclidean geometry, semigroups, and valuations that we will use throughout. We
also recall here a couple of essential theorems of Kaveh and Khovanskii.
In Section 3, we define a class of valuations that are suitable for measuring colengths of ideals. Many of the ideas in this section come from
Kaveh-Khovanskii and Cutkosky; however, we include details here to
keep the presentation self-contained. In Section 4, we describe the key
combinatorial structure, a p-system, and the region in Euclidean space
whose volume measures it, a p-body. In Section 5, we prove Theorem 1.2 on the existence of limits. It appears as the combination of
Theorem 5.11, which relates asymptotic growth of lengths to volumes
of p-bodies, Theorem 5.15, establishing the “if and only if” part of the
statement, and Theorem 5.14, which corresponds to the last assertion.
Theorem 1.4 also appears there as Theorem 5.27, and Theorem 1.5 appears as Theorem 5.24. In Section 6, we apply these existence results
to the particular limits mentioned in the introduction, and discuss our
work in the toric context.
2. Conventions and basic notions
In this section, we establish some notation, and review some basics from convex geometry, semigroup theory, and valuation theory.
Throughout this discussion, U and V are arbitrary subsets of Rd .
2.1. Euclidean geometry and measure. The standard inner product of vectors u and v in Rd is denoted hu, vi. We use U ◦ , U, and
∂U = U \ U ◦ to denote the interior, closure, and boundary, respectively, of U with respect to the Euclidean topology on Rd . If U is
Lebesgue measurable, we call its measure volRd (U) its volume. Given a
real number λ, the Minkowski sum U + λV consists of all sums u + λv
with u ∈ U and v ∈ V . We define U − λV analogously.
2.2. Convex cones. A conical combination of points in Rd is an Rlinear combination of those points with nonnegative coefficients, and a
convex cone (or simply, cone) is any subset of Rd that is closed under
taking conical combinations. The closed cone generated by U consists
of the closure of the set of all conical combinations of elements of U,

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 9

and is denoted cone(U). Recall that a cone in Rd has a nonempty
interior if and only if the real vector space it generates has dimension
d. We call such a cone full-dimensional.
A cone C is pointed if it is closed, and if there exists a vector a ∈ Rd
such that hu, ai > 0 for all nonzero points u in C. In this case, if α is
a nonnegative real number, we call any halfspace of the form
H = {u ∈ Rd : hu, ai < α}
a truncating halfspace for C. Observe that if α is positive, then the
intersection of C and H is nonempty and bounded, and we call any
subset of C of this form a truncation of C.
Given a cone C in Rd , we say that a subset Γ of Rd is a C-convex
region (or simply C-convex) if the Minkowski sum C + Γ lies in Γ.
Example 2.1. If C is a pointed cone in Rd , and H is a truncating
halfspace for C, then the region Γ consisting of all points in C lying
outside of the truncation C ∩ H is a C-convex region.
We recall the following theorem of Kaveh and Khovanskii [16, Corollary 2.4], which is reminiscent of the classical Brunn-Minkowski theorem for convex sets.
Theorem 2.2. Let C be a full-dimensional pointed cone in Rd , and let
∆′ and ∆′′ be C-convex subsets of C. If the complements of ∆′ and ∆′′
in C are bounded, then
volRd (C \ ∆′ )1/d + volRd (C \ ∆′′ )1/d ≥ volRd (C \ (∆′ + ∆′′ ))1/d .

We shall also need the following lemma.
Lemma 2.3. Let C be a full-dimensional pointed cone in Rd , and let
H be a truncating halfspace for C. Let ∆ be a C-convex subset of C
such that volRd (∂∆) = 0. Then volRd (C \ ∆) > 0 if and only if there is
some α > 0 such that ∆ ∩ αH is empty.
Proof. Fix a vector a in Rd such that H = {u ∈ Rd | hu, ai < 1}. If
there exists an α > 0 such that ∆ ∩ αH is empty, then C \ ∆ contains
C ∩ αH, which has positive volume.

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

On the other hand, if volRd (C \ ∆) is positive, then the assumption
¯ > 0. Now, suppose for
that volRd (∂∆) = 0 implies that volRd (C \ ∆)
the sake of contradiction that there does not exist a number α > 0 such
that ∆ ∩ αH is empty. By our choice of a, this implies that there is a
sequence of points {vn }∞
n=1 in ∆ such that hvn , ai → 0. For all large n,
the term vn lies in the compact set C ∩ H, and therefore a subsequence
of {vn }∞
n=1 accumulates to a point v ∈ C with hv, ai = 0. However, C
is pointed with H a truncating halfspace, and so the only point in C
whose inner product with a is zero is the origin. Thus, we must have
¯ Finally, since ∆ is C-convex,
that v = 0, which implies that 0 ∈ ∆.
¯ which contradicts that volRd (C \ ∆)
¯ > 0. 
this implies that C = ∆,
2.3. Semigroups. In this article, a semigroup is any subset of Zd that
contains zero and is closed under addition. The semigroup of nonnegative integers is denoted N, and a semigroup S is finitely generated if
there exists a finite subset G of S such that every element of S can be
written as an N-linear combination of elements of G. We call a subset
T of a semigroup S an ideal of S whenever S + T is contained in T .
A semigroup S is called pointed if the only element of S whose negative is also in S is zero. Note that if the closed cone generated by S
is pointed, then so is S. However, the converse is false, but does hold
if S is assumed to be finitely generated.
Observe that the group generated by a semigroup S in Zd is the
Minkowski difference S − S. Thus, after replacing Zd with this finitely
generated free abelian group, when convenient, we may always assume
that S lies in Zd , and that S − S = Zd .
We conclude our discussion of semigroups by recalling an important
relation between semigroups and cones, which is a special case of [15,
Theorem 1.6], also due to Kaveh and Khovanskii.
Theorem 2.4 (Kaveh and Khovanskii). Let S be a semigroup in Zd
such that S − S = Zd , and such that the full-dimensional cone C generated by S is pointed. If C is any full-dimensional pointed subcone of
C whose boundary intersects ∂C only at the origin, then there exists
truncating halfspace H for C such that (C ∩ Zd ) \ H lies in S.


LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 11

2.4. Valuations. Herein, we consider valuations whose value group is
order-isomorphic to a finitely generated free additive subgroup of R. In
particular, all valuations will be of rank one and of finite rational rank.
Given such a valuation, we will be interested in certain semigrouptheoretic and convex-geometric objects defined in terms of the value
group, and will therefore find it convenient to fix an isomorphism of
this group with the lattice points in some Euclidean space.
Towards this, fix a Z-linear embedding of Zd into R, and consider
the inherited linear order on Zd . A valuation on a field F with value
group Zd is a surjective group homomorphism
ν : F× −։ Zd
with the property that ν(x+y) is greater than or equal to the minimum
of ν(x) and ν(y) for all x and y in F× not differing by a sign. In an
abuse of notation, given a subset M of F, we will set
ν(M) := ν(M \ 0).
Given a point u in Zd , we use F≥u to denote the subset of F consisting
of 0 and the elements x with ν(x) ≥ u, and we define F>u similarly.
The local ring of ν is the subring (V, mV , kV ) of F consisting of the
valuation ring F≥0 and its unique maximal ideal F>0 .
Recall that ν is said to dominate a local domain (D, m, k) with fraction field F if (D, m, k) is a local subring of (V, mV , kV ).
Remark 2.5. If u ∈ Zd , then both F>u and F≥u are naturally modules
over V , and F≥u / F>u is a vector space over the residue field kV .
In fact, if u = ν(h) for some nonzero h, then
dimkV

F≥u
F>u

!

= 1.

Indeed, this follows from the observation that if g is any other nonzero
g with u = ν(g), then g differs from h by g/h, which has ν-value 0.
The linear order on Zd resulting from its embedding into R is a
crucial ingredient in our definitions above. For future reference, we
record a concrete description of this order below.

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Remark 2.6. Every Z-linear embedding Zd −
֒ → R is of the form
d
u 7→ ha, ui for some unique vector a ∈ R whose coordinates are
linearly independent over Q. Consequently, the inherited order on Zd
is such that u ≤ v in Zd whenever hu, ai ≤ hv, ai in R.
2.5. Interplay. Let D be a domain of dimension d with fraction field
F. Fix a Z-linear embedding Zd −
֒ → R induced by a vector a ∈ Rd ,
and consider the linear order on Zd as described in Remark 2.6. Let
ν : F× −։ Zd
be a valuation on F with value group Zd .
As ν is a group homomorphism, S = ν(D) is a semigroup in Zd ,
and the image under ν of any ideal of D is a semigroup ideal of S.
Furthermore, the surjectivity of ν implies that S − S = Zd , and so S
generates the ambient Zd as a group. It follows that the closed cone C
in Rd generated by S is full-dimensional. We stress that, in practice,
S is often not finitely generated, and so C need not be polyhedral.
Suppose that (D, m, k) is local. In terms of the semigroup S = ν(D),
it is not difficult to see that D is dominated by ν if and only if every
element of ν(m) is greater than 0, and S = ν(m) ∪ {0}. In light
of Remark 2.6, this implies that every nonzero point u of S satisfies
hu, ai > 0, and so S is pointed by the order on Zd .
These observations motivate the following (nonstandard) definition.
Definition 2.7 (Strong domination). In the above notation, we say
that D is strongly dominated by ν if it is dominated by ν, and the
full-dimensional closed cone C generated by S (and not just S itself) is
pointed by the order on Zd . In other words, D is strongly dominated
by ν if it is dominated by ν, and hu, ai > 0 for every nonzero u in C.
3. OK valuations
Following Cutkosky [4, 5], we consider a distinguished class of valuations that extend the notion of “good valuation” with “1-dimensional
leaves” defined by Kaveh and Khovanskii in [15]. For the convenience
of the reader, we review the relevant constructions in this section.

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 13

3.1. OK valuations.
Definition 3.1. Let (D, m, k) be a local domain of dimension d with
fraction field F, and fix a Z-linear embedding of Zd into R.
A valuation
ν : F× −։ Zd
on F with value group Zd and local ring (V, mV , kV ) is said to be OK
relative to D whenever D is strongly dominated by ν, the resulting
extension of the residue fields k −
֒ → kV is finite (algebraic), and there
d
exists a point v in Z such that
D ∩ F≥av ⊆ ma
for every nonnegative integer a.
Definition 3.2. A local domain D of dimension d is said to be OK
whenever there exists an valuation on its fraction field with value group
Zd that is OK relative to D.
Example 3.3. Let S be a finitely generated pointed semigroup in Zd
with S − S = Zd . As S is finitely generated, the full-dimensional cone
C generated by S is also pointed, and so we may fix a point a ∈ Rd
such that hu, ai is positive for every nonzero point u in C. As C is
full-dimensional, we may perturb the coordinates of a so that they are
linearly independent over Q. In what follows, we consider the Z-linear
embedding of Zd into R determined by this point.
±1
Let k[S] be the k-subalgebra of k[x±1
1 , . . . , xd ] with k-basis given
by the monomials xu with u ∈ S, D be the localization of k[S] at the
maximal ideal generated by the monomials with nonzero exponents.
Given a nonzero element f in k[S], let ν(f ) be the least exponent
that corresponds to a supporting monomial of f . We claim that the
induced valuation ν : F× −։ Zd on the fraction field F of D is OK
relative to D. Indeed, this essentially follows from the observation
that the semigroup ν(D) agrees with the semigroup S, and from the
definition of the order on Zd . We note that the extension of residue
fields resulting from the domination of D by ν is an isomorphism, and
that one may take v in Definition 3.1 to be the greatest element of
some finite generating set for S.

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Example 3.4 (A power series ring over a field is OK). Let D be the
power series ring in d variables over a field k, and with fraction field F.
Fix a vector a in Rd with positive entries that are linearly independent
over Q, and consider the associated embedding Zd −
֒ → R.
d
The positivity of a implies that every subset of N has a least element,
and so the function ν assigning to each nonzero power series in D the
least exponent vector that appears among its terms is well-defined. We
claim that the induced valuation ν : F× −։ Zd is OK relative to D. For
example, the fact that C is contained in the nonnegative orthant tells
us that hu, ai is positive for all nonzero points u in C. The remaining
details, similar to those in Example 3.3, are left to the reader.
Example 3.5 (A regular local ring containing a field is OK). If (D, m, k)
is a regular local ring containing a field, then we may identify its completion D̂ with a power series over k in some minimal generating set for
m, and it is straightforward to verify that the restriction to the fraction field of D of the valuation on the fraction field of D̂ constructed
in Example 3.4 is OK relative to D.
Example 3.5 suggests that if an extension of rings is nice, then the
restriction of an OK valuation is often OK. Below, we see another
important instance of this theme.
Lemma 3.6. Consider an inclusion of local domains (D, m) ⊆ (A, n)
such that D̂ is reduced (e.g., D is an excellent domain), A is essentially
of finite type over D, and the induced extension of fraction fields is an
isomorphism. If F is the common fraction field of A and D, then the
restriction of any valuation on F that is OK relative to A is also OK
relative to D.
Proof. Fix a valuation ν : F× −։ Zd that is OK relative to A. To see
that ν is also OK relative to D, first observe that the cone generated by
ν(D) is contained in the one generated by ν(A). Moreover, D is a local
subring of A, and hence, a local subring of the valuation ring V , and
since A is essentially of finite type over D and ν is OK relative to A,
the composition of extensions D/m ֒→ A/n ֒→ kν is finite. It remains

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 15

to verify the last condition concerning the existence of a distinguished
vector in Zd , which we do below.
If D is complete, or more generally, excellent, then [11, Theorem 1]
shows that there exists a positive integer l such that
nkl ∩ D ⊆ mk
for every k ∈ N. An argument appearing the proof of [5, Lemma 4.3]
shows that the same is also true if instead we only suppose that D̂ is
reduced. In either case, if the point v satisfies the last condition in
Definition 3.1 relative to A, then the point w = lv satisfies this same
condition relative to D.

Corollary 3.7. An excellent local domain containing a field is OK. In
particular, a complete local domain containing a field is OK.
Proof. The following construction appears in the proof of [5, Corollary
4.3]. Fix an excellent local domain (D, m), and let π : X → Spec D be
the normalization of the blowup of Spec D at m. As X is normal (and
hence, regular in codimension one), there exists a point x ∈ X lying
over m such that A = OX,x is regular. Moreover, since D is excellent,
we know that A is essentially of finite type over D. Example 3.5 tells

us that A is OK, and Lemma 3.6 then implies that D is OK.
3.2. Length computations. In this subsection, we fix a valuation ν
on the fraction field F of a d-dimensional local domain (D, m, k) that is
OK relative to D, and we adopt the notation established in Definition
3.1. Moreover, we use S to denote the semigroup ν(D) in Zd .
Remark 3.8. By assumption, D is a local subring of V . Therefore, if
M is an D-submodule of F and u ∈ Zd , then the D-module structure
on M induces a k-vector space structure on the quotient
M ∩ F≥u
.
M ∩ F>u
Moreover, the obvious k-linear embedding
F≥u
M ∩ F≥u
−
֒→
M ∩ F>u
F>u

16

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

and Remark 2.5 show that the k-dimension of this quotient is at most
most [kV : k]. By definition, this space is nonzero if and only if there
exists an element m ∈ M with ν(m) = u, and motivated by this, we
may regard its k-dimension as a “measure” of the size of the set of all
elements in M with ν-value equal to u.
Definition 3.9. If M is a D-submodule of F and 1 ≤ h ≤ [kV : k],
then we define ν (h) (M) to be the set of all vectors u ∈ Zd such that
dimk

M ∩ F≥u
M ∩ F>u

!

≥ h.

As noted in Remark 3.8, we have that ν (1) (M) = ν(M).
Remark 3.10. Suppose M is a D-submodule of F. If u ∈ Zd and g is
a nonzero element of D with v = ν(g), then the map
M ∩ F≥u
M ∩ F≥u+v
−−→
M ∩ F>u
M ∩ F>u+v
defined by [m] 7→ [gm] is a k-linear injection. In particular,
ν (h) (M) + S ⊆ ν (h) (M),
and so ν (h) (M) is an ideal of S for every 1 ≤ h ≤ [kV : k].
Lemma 3.11. If M is a D-submodule of F and v ∈ Zd , then
[kV :k]

ℓD (M/M ∩ F≥v ) =

X

#(ν (h) (M) ∩ H ),

h=1

where H is the halfspace {u ∈ Rd : hu, ai < hv, ai}.
Proof. Set l = [kV : k]. By definition of the descending chain of semigroup ideals ν(M) ⊇ · · · ⊇ ν (l) (M) of S, if u ∈ ν(M), then
dimk

M ∩ F≥u
M ∩ F>u

!

n

o

= # 1 ≤ h ≤ l : u ∈ ν (h) (M) .

As H is a truncating halfspace for C, the intersection ν(M) ∩ H
is finite. If this set is empty, then the lemma is trivial. Otherwise,
this set consists of points um > · · · > u1 . By definition of the order
on Zd , the point um is the maximal vector in ν(M) less than v, and
so M ∩ F≥v = M ∩ F>um . Consequently, the length of M/(M ∩ F≥v )

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 17

equals the length of M/(M ∩ F>um ), which in turn equals
ℓD

M ∩ F≥um
M ∩ F>um

!

M
M ∩ F≥um

+ ℓD

!

.

Inducing on m then shows that
ℓD

M
M ∩ F≥v

!

=

m
X

ℓD

k=1

M ∩ F≥uk
M ∩ F>uk

!

,

which by an earlier observation equals
m
X

n

o

# 1 ≤ h ≤ l : uk ∈ ν (h) (I) .

k=1

Finally, setting Ek,h = 1 if uk ∈ ν (h) (I) and Ek,h = 0 otherwise, we
may rewrite this expression to see that ℓD (M/M ∩ F≥v ) equals
m X
l
X

k=1 h=1

Ek,h =

l X
m
X

h=1 k=1

Ek,h =

l
X

h=1





# ν (h) (I) ∩ H .


In the next lemma, we see that the ideals ν (h) (M) can be approximated by the ideals ν(M) in a uniform way.
Lemma 3.12. There exists an element u in S such that
ν(M) + u ⊆ ν (h) (M) ⊆ ν(M)
for every D-submodule M of F and integer 1 ≤ h ≤ [kV : k].
Proof. Set l = [kV : k]. By definition, ν (h) (M) lies in ν(M). To
establish the opposite inclusion, fix elements g1 , . . . , gl and g in D with
u := ν(g1 ) = · · · = ν(gl ) = ν(g),
and such that the classes of the fractions g1 /g, . . . , gl /g form a basis
for kV over k. If m is a nonzero element in M with v = ν(m), then it
is not difficult to see that the classes of g1 m, . . . , gl m in
M ∩ F≥u+v
M ∩ F>u+v
are linearly independent over k, and hence, form a k-basis for this
space. As m ∈ M was arbitrary, this shows that u + ν(M) is contained
in ν (l) (M), and therefore, lies in ν (h) (M) for all 1 ≤ h ≤ l.


18

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

4. Semigroups, p-systems, and p-bodies
Definition 4.1. A semigroup S in Zd is standard if S − S = Zd , and
the full-dimensional cone generated by S in Rd is pointed.
Example 4.2. In this paper, the main example of a standard semigroup in Zd is the semigroup ν(D) associated to a valuation ν that is
OK relative to some d-dimensional local domain D.
Definition 4.3. A sequence of ideals T• = {Tq }∞
q=1 of a semigroup
whose terms are indexed by the powers of p is called a p-system whenever pTq lies in Tpq for every q a power of p.
Definition 4.4. Let S be a standard semigroup in Zd . Given a psystem of ideals T• of S, we set
1
∆q (S, T• ) = · Tq + cone(S),
q
and we call the ascending union of sets
∆(S, T• ) =

∞
[

q=1

∆q (S, T• )

the p-body associated to (S, T• ). Equivalently,


∆(S, T• ) = 

∞
[

q=1



1
· Tq  + cone(S).
q

Though Definition 4.4 makes sense for an arbitrary semigroup, the
condition that S is standard will become important when establishing
the basic properties of p-bodies.
Example 4.5. Given an arbitrary subset T of S, setting Tq = T + S
for every q defines a p-system of ideals T• of S. Indeed, each Tq is
clearly an ideal, and pTq = pT + pS lies in
T + (p − 1)T + S,
which in turn is a subset of Tpq = T + S. In this case,
∆q (S, T• ) = (1/q) T + cone(S),
and the closure of ∆(S, T• ) equals cone(S).

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 19

Example 4.6. Given an arbitrary subset T of S, setting Tq = qT + S
defines a p-system of ideals T• of S such that
∆(S, T• ) = ∆q (S, T• ) = T + cone(S)
for every q a power of p.
Example 4.7. Given p-systems T• and U• in S, the sequence of ideals
T• + U• whose q-th term is Tq + Uq is also a p-system, and
∆q (S, T• + U• ) = ∆q (S, T• ) + ∆q (S, U• )
for every q a power of p.
As illustrated by Example 4.6, p-bodies need not be convex, and in
applications, they are typically not. On the other hand, we see from
Definition 4.4 that the Minkowski sum of a p-body ∆ and the fulldimensional pointed cone generated by the ambient standard semigroup
lies in ∆. As we see in the next example that this property characterizes
p-bodies, up to closure.
Example 4.8. Let C be a full-dimensional pointed cone in Rd , and
let D be any subset of C such that D + C ⊆ D. If S = C ∩ Zd
and Tq = (qD) ∩ Zd , then the closures of ∆(S, T• ) and D are equal:
The hypothesis that C is full-dimensional implies that there exists a
nonempty open ball B centered at some point of C with B ⊆ C. After
rescaling, we may assume that B has radius greater than one, so that
every translation of B by a point in Zd contains a lattice point. Fix
u ∈ D, and for every q, a vector vq ∈ B such that qu + vq ∈ Zd . By
definition, (1/q)vq lies in (1/q)B, which itself is contained in C. Thus,
qu + vq ∈ q(D + C) ∩ Zd = Tq ,
and the fact that vq ∈ B for all q shows that the points
u + (1/q)vq ∈ ∆q (S, T• )
define a sequence in ∆(S, T• ) converging to u. We conclude that D,
and hence its closure, is contained in the closure of ∆(S, T• ). The
remaining details are left to the reader.

20

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Remark 4.9. One may summarize the previous example and the discussion above it as follows: A closed region ∆ is the closure of a p-body
if and only if it is a cone(S)-convex region.
Every p-body ∆ is the union of countably many translates of C, and
is contained entirely in C, and so is therefore Lebesgue measurable. It
follows that if H is a truncating halfspace of C, then the volume of
∆ ∩ H is a well-defined real number. The following theorem, which is
concerned with volumes of this form, is the main result of this section.
Theorem 4.10. Let S be a standard semigroup in Zd . If T• is a psystem in S, and H is any truncating halfspace for cone(S), then
lim

q→∞

# (Tq ∩ qH)
= volRd (∆(S, T• ) ∩ H).
qd

The remainder of this section is dedicated to proving Theorem 4.10,
and an important corollary (Corollary 4.17). We begin with some useful
lemmas, all of which hold in the context of Setup 4.11.
Setup 4.11. Let C be a full-dimensional pointed cone, and Γ be the
points in C lying outside some (possibly, empty) truncation of C. Fix
a countable subset V of C, and set U = V + Γ.
Lemma 4.12. In the context of Setup 4.11, U + C ◦ lies in U ◦ .
Proof. As observed in Remark 2.1, Γ + C lies in Γ. We also note that
U + C ◦ is contained in U ◦ . Indeed, given v ∈ V and w ∈ Γ,
v + w + C ◦ = v + (w + C)◦ ⊆ v + Γ◦ = (v + Γ)◦ ⊆ U ◦ .
Choose u ∈ U and c ∈ C ◦ . To complete the proof, we must show
that u + c ∈ U ◦ . By our choice of c, there exists an open ball W
centered at the origin such c + W ⊆ C ◦ , and as u ∈ U , the open set
u + W must intersect U. Fix a point z in the intersection of u + W
and U, so that u − z is in −W = W . It follows that
u + c = z + c + u − z ∈ z + c + W ⊆ z + C ◦ ⊆ U + C ◦ ⊆ U ◦,
which allows us to conclude the proof.
Corollary 4.13. In the context of Setup 4.11, volRd (∂U) = 0.



LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 21

Proof. As every open set and closed set in Rd is measurable, so is the
boundary ∂U = U \ U ◦ of U. Fixing v ∈ C ◦ , Lemma 4.12 implies that
∂U + cone(v) ⊆ ∂U + C ◦ ⊆ U + C ◦ ⊆ U ◦ ,
and hence, that (∂U + cone(v)) ∩ ∂U = ∅.
For every n ≥ 1, let En denote the elements of ∂U whose coordinate
sum is less than n, so that the collection of sets En as n varies defines
an increasing family of bounded measurable subsets whose union is ∂U.
As (En + cone(v)) ∩ En is empty, it follows that
(En + (1/k) · v) ∩ (En + (1/m) · v) = ∅
for all k 6= m ∈ N, and as En is bounded,
An :=

∞
[

(En + (1/k) · v)

k=1

is also bounded, and hence, has finite measure. The additivity of the
Lebesgue measure µ on Rd and the disjointness of the sets defining
P
An then imply that ∞
n=1 µ (En ) = µ (An ) < ∞, which tells us that
µ(En ) = 0. Our claim then follows, as µ(∂U) = limn→∞ µ(En ) = 0. 
Proposition 4.14. In the context of Setup 4.11, if H is any truncating
halfspace for C, then D = U ∩ H is bounded and measurable, and
#(kD ∩ Zd )
= volRd (D).
k→∞
kd
lim

Proof. By definition, U lies in C, and is the union of countably many
translates of C. Thus, D is measurable and lies in the bounded truncation C ∩ H. Moreover, as D is bounded, volRd (D) can be computed via
Riemann integration if and only if ∂D has measure zero. However, the
boundary of D is contained in the union of ∂U and ∂H; by Corollary
4.13, the former boundary has measure zero, and it is apparent that
∂H has measure zero in Rd as well. The result then follows from the
observation that
#(D ∩ (1/k)Zd )
#(kD ∩ Zd )
=
kd
kd
is the volume of the Riemann approximation of D given by the Minkowski
sum D ∩ (1/k)Zd + [0, 1/k]d .


22

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

We are now prepared to prove Theorem 4.10.
Proof of Theorem 4.10. Set C = cone(S). To simplify notation, we
write ∆q instead of ∆q (S, T• ) and ∆ instead of ∆(S, T• ). If D is either
∆ or ∆q , then D̃ will denote the (bounded) intersection D ∩ H.
By definition, Tq is contained in q∆q . Consequently,
˜ q ⊆ q ∆,
˜
Tq ∩ qH ⊆ q∆q ∩ qH = q(∆q ∩ H) = q ∆
and Proposition 4.14 then implies that
lim sup
q→∞

˜ ∩ Zd )
#(Tq ∩ qH)
#(q ∆
˜
≤
lim
= volRd (∆).
q→∞
qd
qd

˜ is less than or equal to the
It remains to show that the volume of ∆
corresponding limit inferior. Towards this, let C be a full-dimensional
pointed cone contained in C whose boundary intersects ∂C only at 0.
By Theorem 2.4, we may fix an a truncating halfspace H for C such
that (C ∩ Zd ) \ H is contained in S. Like q, let r and s be variable
powers of p, and set


1
1
· Tr + C \ · H ∩ H.
Mr,s =
r
s
We claim that for every q, r, and s,
qrsMr,s ∩ Zd ⊆ Tqrs ∩ qrsH.

(4.1)

Before justifying (4.1), we explain how it allows us to complete the
proof: First, note that Proposition 4.14 and (4.1) imply that
volRd (Mr,s ) =

volRd (rsMr,s )
#(qrsMr,s ∩ Zd )
=
lim
q→∞
(rs)d
(qrs)d

is less than or equal to
lim inf
q→∞

#(Tqrs ∩ qrsH)
#(Tq ∩ qH)
= lim inf
.
d
q→∞
(qrs)
qd

Next, observe that for a fixed value of r, our choice of H guarantees
that ((1/r)Tr ) ∩ H is finite, which shows that as s varies, the sets Mr,s
form an increasing chain whose union is


1
· Tr + C ∩ H.
Mr =
r

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 23

Consequently,
volRd (Mr ) = lim volRd (Mr,s ) ≤ lim inf
s→∞

q→∞

#(Tq ∩ qH)
.
qd

Similarly, as C approaches C in an increasing manner from within,
˜ r ) from below, and so we may replace volRd (Mr )
volRd (Mr ) approves volRd (∆
˜ r ) in the previous inequality. Letting r → ∞ then shows
with volRd (∆
˜ is less than or equal to the same limit inferior.
that volRd (∆)
To establish (4.1), note that since C is a cone, if λ is positive and X
is any subset of Rd , then λ(C \ X) = (λC ) \ (λX) = C \ λX. It follows
from this, our choice of H , and the fact that T• is a p-system that
qrsMr,s ∩ Zd = (qsTr + C \ qrH ) ∩ Zd ∩ qrsH
⊆ (qsTr + C \ H ) ∩ Zd ∩ qrsH
= (qsTr + (C ∩ Zd ) \ H ) ∩ qrsH
⊆ (Tqrs + S) ∩ qrsH
= Tqrs ∩ qrsH,
which allows us to conclude the proof.



Below, we see that there is some flexibility when computing the
volumes considered above.
Lemma 4.15. Let S be a standard semigroup in Zd . If T• is a p-system
in S, and H is any truncating halfspace for cone(S), then the volume
of ∆(S, T• ) ∩ H equals the volume of its interior, and of its closure.
Proof. Set W = ∆(S, T• ) ∩ H. As in the proof of Proposition 4.14,
Corollary 4.13 implies that volRd (∂W ) = 0. The identity W = ∂W ⊔W ◦
then implies that volRd (W ) = volRd (W ◦ ).

Proposition 4.16. Let S be a standard semigroup in Zd , U an arbitrary subset of S, and U• the constant p-system given by Uq = U + S
for all q. If T• is a p-system of ideals of S, and H is any truncating
halfspace for cone(S), then the closure of ∆(S, T• ) ∩ H and the closure
of ∆(S, T• + U• ) ∩ H agree. In particular, their volumes are equal.
Proof. By Example 4.7, we have that
∆(S, T• + U• ) ∩ H = (∆(S, T• ) + ∆(S, U• )) ∩ H,

24

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

while Example 4.5 shows that ∆(S, U• ) equals C = cone(S). Using
these facts, it is straightforward to verify that the closures of the stated
intersections agree (the details are left to the reader). The second
statement follows from the first and Lemma 4.15.

Corollary 4.17. Let S be a standard semigroup in Zd , and fix an
arbitrary sequence of subsets V• = {Vq }∞
q=1 of S indexed by the powers
of p. Let T• be a p-system of ideals of S, and suppose that U is a subset
of S such that Tq + U ⊆ Vq ⊆ Tq for every q. If H is any truncating
halfspace of cone(S), then
#(Vq ∩ qH)
= volRd (∆(S, T• ) ∩ H).
q→∞
qd
Proof. Let U• be the constant p-system of ideals of S determined by
U. By hypothesis, Tq + Uq ⊆ Vq ⊆ Tq , and therefore
lim

# ((Tq + Uq ) ∩ qH) ≤ #(Vq ∩ qH) ≤ #(Tq ∩ qH).
The result then follows from Theorem 4.10 and Proposition 4.16.



5. p-families, p-systems, and limits as Euclidean volumes
In this sections, all rings will be of prime characteristic p > 0. Recall
the following definitions, which appeared in the introduction.
Definition 5.1. A sequence of ideals I• = {Iq }∞
q=1 whose terms are
indexed by the powers of the characteristic is called a p-family whenever
Iq[p] ⊆ Ipq for all q a power of p.
Definition 5.2. Given a p-family I• of m-primary ideals in a d-dimensional
local ring (R, m), we call the limit
ℓR (R/Iq )
q→∞
qd

volR (I• ) = lim
the volume of the p-family.

Remark 5.3. Given a p-family of ideals I• in a local ring (R, m), then
the terms in this family are m-primary if and only if I1 is m-primary.
Indeed, if ma is contained in I1 for some positive integer a, and I1 is
generated by b elements, then, by the pigeon-hole principle,
[q]

mabq ⊆ I1bq ⊆ I1 ⊆ Iq .

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 25

In other words, if c = ab, then mcq ⊆ Iq for all q a power of p.
Perhaps the most basic example of a p-family is the sequence whose
q-term is the q-th Frobenius power of some fixed ideal in a ring of
characteristic p > 0. Below, we consider others.
Example 5.4. Recall that if e ≥ 0 is an integer, then F∗e R is the
R-module obtained by applying the restriction of scalars functor associated to the e-th iterated Frobenius endomorphism of R to the ring
R itself. In concrete terms, an R-linear map φ : F∗e R → R is simply a
e
map of sets φ : R → R that is additive, and such that φ(xp y) = xφ(y)
for every x and y in R. With this notation, if b is an ideal of R,
and Iq consists of all x ∈ R such that φ(x) ∈ b for every R-linear map
φ : F∗e R → R, then the corresponding sequence I• is a p-family of ideals
in R. For a detailed verification of this fact when b is the maximal ideal
of a local ring, we refer the reader to [31].
Example 5.5. Recall that a graded family of ideals is a sequence of
ideals J• = {Jn }∞
n=1 indexed by the natural numbers with the property
that Ja · Jb ⊆ Ja+b for all natural numbers a and b. Given a graded
system of ideals, the subsequence corresponding to terms indexed by
powers of p defines a p-family. For example, if b is an ideal of R, then
the sequence whose n-th term is bn defines a graded family of ideals,
from which we may extract the p-family whose q-th term is bq .
It is apparent that one may employ standard algebraic constructions
to generate new p-bodies from given ones. We gather some instances
of this below.
Example 5.6. The termwise product, sum, or intersection of an arbitrary collection of p-families defines a p-family. Moreover, given a map
of rings A → B, the termwise expansion of a p-family in A defines a
p-family in B. Similarly, the termwise contraction of a p-family in B
defines a p-family in A. The termwise saturation of a p-family is also
a p-family. More precisely, if I• is a p-family in R, and b is any ideal
of R, then the sequence whose q-term is
n
(Iq : b∞ ) = ∪∞
n=1 (Iq : b )

26

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

is a p-family in R.
Example 5.7. Fix a positive real number λ. If q is a power of p, set
λq = ⌈qλ⌉ − 1, and note that λpq is greater than or equal to pλq .
Fix an element f of a ring R, and a p-family I• in R. If
Jq = (Iq : f λq )
for every q a power of p, then
Jq[p] ⊆ (Iq[p] : f pλq ) ⊆ (Ipq : f λpq ) = Jpq ,
which shows that J• is a p-family of ideals in R.
Setup 5.8. Fix a d-dimensional local domain (D, m, k) of characteristic p > 0 with fraction field F, a Z-linear embedding of Zd into R
induced by a vector a in Rd , and a valuation ν : F× −։ Zd that is OK
relative to D. We use S to denote the semigroup ν(D) in Zd , and C to
denote the closed cone in Rd generated by S. We follow the notation
established in Definition 3.1.
The connection between p-families and p-systems stems from the
simple fact that if x ∈ D, then p · ν(x) = ν(xp ). Consequently, if I• is
a p-family of ideals in D, then ν(I• ), the sequence whose q-th term is
ν(Iq ), is a p-system of ideals in S.
Remark 5.9. Whether the sequence ν (h) (I• ) is a p-system when h > 1
appears to be a more subtle issue. Indeed, suppose that M is a Dsubmodule of the fraction field F, and let m1 , . . . , mh be elements of
M with ν(m1 ) = · · · = ν(mh ) = u, and whose images in
M ∩ F≥u
M ∩ F>u
are linearly independent over k. If the images of mp1 , . . . , mph in
M ∩ F≥pu
M ∩ F>pu
were always linearly independent over k, then this would tell us that
ν (h) (I• ) was a p-system. Though this is condition is satisfied whenever
k is perfect, it is not clear whether ν (h) (I• ) is a p-system in general, and
it is possible that this issue may depend on the particular valuation.

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 27

While we do not know whether the sequence ν (h) (I• ) is a p-system
when h > 1, the fact that it can be uniformly approximated by ν(I• )
allows us to regard it as such in at least one important way.
Corollary 5.10. Adopt the context of Setup 5.8. If I• is a p-family of
ideals in D and h is an integer with 1 ≤ h ≤ [kV : k], then
#(ν (h) (Iq ) ∩ qH)
= volRd (∆(S, ν(I• )) ∩ H),
q→∞
qd
lim

where H is any truncating halfspace for the cone C.
Proof. This follows immediately from Lemma 3.12 and Corollary 4.17.

Theorem 5.11. Adopt the context of Setup 5.8, and fix p-families of
ideals I• and J• in D with Iq ⊆ Jq for all q. If there exists a positive
integer c such that mcq ∩ Iq = mcq ∩ Jq for all q, then
ℓD (Jq /Iq )
= [kV : k] · volRd (∆(S, ν(J• )) \ ∆(S, ν(I• ))) .
q→∞
qd
lim

Moreover, the p-bodies ∆(S, ν(I• )) and ∆(S, ν(J• )) agree outside of
some truncation of the cone C, and so the the above limit is finite.
Before proving Theorem 5.11, we observe an immediate application.
Let J• be the constant p-family whose terms are all D. In this case,
∆(S, ν(J• )) = C, and if I• is any p-family of m-primary ideals in D,
then Remark 5.3 tells us that I• and J• satisfy the hypotheses of Theorem 5.11. Thus, we obtain the following corollary.
Corollary 5.12. Adopt the context of Setup 5.8. If I• is a p-family of
m-primary ideals in D, and ∆ = ∆(S, ν(I• )), then
volD (I• ) = [kV : k] · volRd (C \ ∆) < ∞.
Remark 5.13. Let R be an N-graded ring whose zeroth component is a
field, and I• and J• be p-families of homogeneous ideals with Iq ⊆ Jq for
all q. In this setting, the condition that there exists a positive integer
c such that mcq ∩ Iq = mcq ∩ Jq for all q is equivalent to the condition
that there exists some b such that [Iq ]≥bq = [Jq ]≥bq for all q. Indeed,
if R is generated in degrees at most d, then [R]≥cdq ⊆ mcq ⊆ [R]≥cq .

28

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Thus, if [Iq ]≥cq = [Jq ]≥cq for all q, then
mcq ∩ Iq = mcq ∩ [Iq ]≥cq = mcq ∩ [Jq ]≥cq = mcq ∩ Jq .
Likewise, if mcq ∩ Iq = mcq ∩ Jq for all q, then
[Iq ]≥cdq = mcq ∩ Iq ∩ [R]≥cdq = mcq ∩ Jq ∩ [R]≥cdq = [Iq ]≥cdq .
A more in-depth discussion of the condition on the p-families I• and
J• appearing in the statement of Theorem 5.11 in an important special
case can be found in Section 6.
Proof of Theorem 5.11. If u ∈ Zd , then the exact sequences
0→
and
0→

Iq
Jq
Jq
→
→
→0
Iq ∩ F≥u
Iq ∩ F≥u
Iq

Jq
Jq
Jq ∩ F≥u
→
→
→0
Iq ∩ F≥u
Iq ∩ F≥u
Jq ∩ F≥u

show that the length of Jq /Iq equals
(5.1)

ℓR

Jq ∩ F≥u
Iq ∩ F≥u

!

+ ℓR

Jq
Jq ∩ F≥u

!

− ℓR

!

Iq
.
Iq ∩ F≥u

Let v ∈ S satisfy the last condition in Definition 3.1 relative to ν. If
w = cv, then D ∩ F≥qw = D ∩ F≥cqv ⊆ mcq , and therefore
Iq ∩ F≥qw = Jq ∩ F≥qw for all q.

(5.2)

If H is the halfspace of Rd consisting of all u with hu, ai < hu, wi,
then (5.2) implies that the p-bodies associated to ν(I• ) and ν(J• ) agree
outside of the truncated cone C ∩ H. Furthermore, (5.2), (5.1), and
Lemma 3.11 imply that
ℓD (Jq /Iq ) = ℓD (Jq /Jq ∩ Fν≥qw ) − ℓD (Iq /Iq ∩ Fν≥qw )
[kV :k]

=

X

h=1



# ν

(h)



(Jq ) ∩ qH −

[kV :k]

X

h=1





# ν (h) (Iq ) ∩ qH .

It then follows from Corollary 5.10 that lim ℓD (Jq /Iq )/q d equals
q→∞

[kV : k] · (volRd (∆(S, ν(J• )) ∩ H) − volRd (∆(S, ν(I• )) ∩ H))
= [kV : k] · volRd ((∆(S, ν(J• )) \ ∆(S, ν(I• ))) ∩ H),

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 29

which by an earlier observation equals [kV : k] times the volume of the
difference of p-bodies ∆(S, ν(J• )) \ ∆(S, ν(I• )).

We conclude this subsection with an extension of Theorem 5.11. We
also note that a refinement of this result in the special case that J• is
the constant p-family whose terms are all given by the ambient ring
appears in Subsection 5.3.
Theorem 5.14. Let (R, m) be a reduced local ring of characteristic
p > 0 such that the quotient of R by each minimal prime is an OK
domain (e.g., R is a reduced complete local ring of characteristic p > 0).
Fix p-families of ideals I• and J• in R with Iq ⊆ Jq for all q. If there
exists a positive integer c such that mcq ∩ Iq = mcq ∩ Jq for all q, then
ℓD (Jq /Iq )
q→∞
qd
lim

exists.
Proof. This follows immediately from Theorem 5.11 and Proposition 5.20,
which appears below.

5.1. A characterization of when limits exist. In this subsection,
we derive a characterization of when volumes of p-families exist in general by reducing to the case of an OK domain. For what follows, recall
that the dimension an R-module M is the Krull dimension of R modulo
the annihilator in R of M.
Theorem 5.15. Let (R, m, k) be a local ring of characteristic p > 0
and dimension d. If R-module dimension of the nilradical of R̂ is less
than d, then for any p-family of m-primary ideals I• of R, the limit
ℓR (R/Iq )
q→∞
qd

volR (I• ) = lim

exists and is finite.
Conversely, if this limit exists for all p-families of m-primary ideals,
then the R-module dimension of the nilradical of R̂ is less than d.
In Example 1.3 from the Introduction, we saw that the condition on
the nilradical of R̂ in Theorem 5.15 is necessary, and more generally,
the proof of [5, Theorem 5.4], due to Dao and Smirnov, may be slightly

30

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

modified to show when the dimension of the nilradical is maximal,
there exists a p-family whose volume does not exist. We reproduce
the adapted proof below to keep the exposition self-contained (and to
avoid any confusion related to a few small typos in loc. cit.).
Proposition 5.16. Let (R, m, k) be a local ring of characteristic p > 0
and dimension d. If the R-module dimension of the nilradical of R̂
equals d, then there exists a p-family of ideals I• in R for which
volR (I• ) = lim

q→∞

ℓR (R/Iq )
qd

does not exist.
Proof. Note that if a p-family satisfying the conclusion of the proposition exists in the completion (R̂, mR̂ ), then one exists in R itself.
Namely, if I• is a p-family of mR̂ -primary ideals in R̂, then the intersection of I• with R is a p-family of m-primary ideals in R, and
ℓR̂ (R̂/Iq ) = ℓR (R/(Iq ∩ R)),
which is immediate from the isomorphisms R/mt ∼
= R̂/mtR̂ for every
non-negative integer t induced by the inclusion R −
֒ → R̂. Thus, we
assume that R is complete with d-dimensional nilradical.
If N is the nilradical of R, and a its annihilator, then there exists
a minimal prime p of a such that dim(R/p) = d. This implies that p
is a minimal (and hence, associated) prime of R, and so there exists a
nonzero x ∈ R such that p = (0 : x). If x ∈
/ p, then
0 = xpRp = pRp = NRp ,
which is impossible, since p contains a, the annihilator of N, by assumption. For what follows, we fix x and p, and we note that x2 = 0.
Let bq be any sequence of integers indexed by the powers of p such
that limq→∞ bq = limq→∞ (q − bq ) = ∞, and such that limq→∞ (bq /q)d
does not exist. For example, one could take the sequence whose pe -th
term is ⌊pe /3⌋ if e is odd, and ⌊2pe /3⌋ if e is even. For every q, set
Iq = mq + xmbq .
The fact that x2 = 0 implies that I• is a p-system of ideals of R.

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 31

Let (A, mA ) be the local ring R/xR. From the short exact sequence
0 → xR/(xR ∩ Iq ) → R/Iq → A/Iq A → 0
we have that
ℓR (xR/(xR ∩ Iq )) ℓA (A/Iq A)
ℓR (R/Iq )
=
+
.
d
q
qd
qd
We claim that the second expression on the right hand side converges
as q → ∞ while the first expression on the right hand side diverges.
The first claim is evident, since Iq A = mqA , so the sequence converges
to a rational multiple of the multiplicity of the d-dimensional ring A.
The Artin-Rees lemma implies that for some k > 0 and all q ≥ k,
xR ∩ mq = mq−k (xR ∩ mk ) ⊆ xmq−k ⊆ xmbq .
Thus, xR∩Iq = xmbq for sufficiently large q. If (D, mD ) is the local ring
R/p, then this observation and the R-linear isomorphism R/p ∼
= xR
show that for large q
xR ∼ xR ∼ D
= bq .
=
xR ∩ Iq
xmbq
mD
If H(t) = ℓD (R/mtD ) is the Hilbert function of D and q is large, then
b

ℓD (D/mDq )
H(bq )
ℓR (xR/(xR ∩ Iq ))
=
=
,
d
d
q
q
qd
which limits to a rational multiple of limq→∞ (bq /q)d , and therefore does
not exist. The claim is established, and the Proposition follows.

We now turn our attention to proving Theorem 5.15. In light of
Proposition 5.16, it is only necessary to justify the first statement. To
do so, we will rely on a handful of results that appear in the next
subsection.
Proof of Theorem 5.15. The length of R/Iq is unaffected by completion, and so we may assume that R is complete. If N is the nilradical
of R and A = R/N, then Corollary 5.18 and our assumption on the
dimension of N imply that the limit in question exists if and only if
ℓA (A/Iq A)
q→∞
qd
lim

32

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

exists. Thus, we may also assume that R is reduced. Moreover, Remark 5.3 and Proposition 5.20 allow us to further assume that R is a
domain, and therefore, OK by Corollary 3.7. The claim then follows
from Corollary 5.12.

5.2. Some simplifications. In this subsection, we gather the results
needed to reduce Theorem 5.14 and Theorem 5.15 to the case of an
OK domain. Note that Corollary 5.18 below is an adaption of [4,
Theorem 4.7], and Proposition 5.20 is an adaptation of the second half
of the proof of [4, Theorem 11.1].
Lemma 5.17. Let (R, m) be a d-dimensional local ring of characteristic
p > 0, and I• be a sequence of ideals of R indexed by the powers of p
such that mcq ⊆ Iq for some positive integer c and all q a power of p. If
M is a finitely generated R-module, then there exists α > 0 such that
ℓR (M/Iq M) ≤ α · q dim M for every q.
Proof. The length of M/Iq M is less than or equal to that of M/mcq M,
and as the latter length agrees with a polynomial in cq of degree
dim(M) for all but finitely many values of q, we may choose a positive
constant β such that ℓR (M/mcq M) is bounded above by β(cq)dim M =
(βcdim M ) · q dim M for all values of q.

Corollary 5.18. Let (R, m) and I• be as in Lemma 5.17. If N is an
ideal of R and A = R/N, then there exists β > 0 such that
0 ≤ ℓR (R/Iq ) − ℓA (A/Iq A) ≤ β · q dim N
for all q a power of p.
Proof. Note that ℓA (A/Iq A) = ℓR (A/Iq A), and therefore the short exact sequence 0 → N/N ∩ Iq → R/Iq → A/Iq A → 0 implies that
ℓR (R/Iq ) − ℓA (A/Iq A) = ℓR (N/N ∩ Iq ).
However, as Iq N ⊆ Iq ∩N, Lemma 5.17 then implies that there exists
β > 0 such that ℓR (N/Iq ∩ N) ≤ ℓR (N/Iq N) ≤ βq dim N .

Corollary 5.19. Let (R, m) and I• be as in Lemma 5.17. If L• is a
sequence of ideals in R indexed by the powers of p such that
Iq ⊆ Lq ⊆ (Iq : x)

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 33

for some nonzerodivisor x in R and for every q a power of p, then
ℓ(R/Iq ) − ℓ(R/Lq ) ≤ γ · q d−1
for some positive constant α and for all q a power of p.
Proof. If A = R/xR, then the exact sequence
0 → Lq /Iq → R/Iq → R/Lq → 0,
the injection Lq /Iq −
֒ → (Iq : x)/Iq , and the exact sequence
x

0 → (Iq : x)/Iq → R/Iq −−→ R/Iq → A/Iq A → 0,
imply that the difference in question is bounded by ℓ(A/Iq A). The

Corollary then follows from Lemma 5.17.
Proposition 5.20. Consider the following property of a local ring.
(⋆) For every pair of p-families of ideals I• and J• in a local ring
(A, mA ) of characteristic p > 0 such that Iq ⊆ Jq for every q, and
cq
such that mcq
A ∩ Jq = mA ∩ Iq for some positive integer c and for every
q, the limit
ℓA (Jq /Iq )
lim
q→∞ q dim(A)
exists.
If (R, mR ) is reduced, and the quotient of R by each of its minimal
primes satisfies the property (⋆), then R satisfies the property (⋆) itself.
Proof. Suppose that I• and J• are p-bodies in R with Iq ⊆ Jq for all q,
bq
and such that mbq
R ∩ Iq = mR ∩ Jq for some positive integer b and all q.
Let p1 , . . . , pm be the minimal primes of R, let (Ri , mRi ) be the quotient of R by pi , and let T = ⊕m
i=1 Ri . For every integer n ≥ 0, set
ωn = mnR T ∩ R = (mnR + p1 ) ∩ · · · ∩ (mnR + pm ).
By the Artin-Rees lemma, there exists an integer k ≥ 0 such that
n−k
n−k
ωn = mR
ωk ⊆ mR

34

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

for all n ≥ k. Thus, if c = b + 1 and q ≥ k, it follows that ωcq is
contained in mbq , so that ωcq ∩ Iq = ωcq ∩ Jq , and therefore
ℓR (Jq /Iq ) = ℓR (Jq /(ωcq ∩ Jq )) − ℓR (Iq /(ωcq ∩ Iq ))
for all q large. Thus, we may assume that Iq is of the form ωcq ∩ Jq for
some positive integer c.
(1)
(m)
Now, define p-families of ideals L(0)
by L(0)
• , L• , . . . , L•
q = Jq and
cq
cq
L(i)
q = Jq ∩ (mR + p1 ) ∩ · · · ∩ (mR + pi )

for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m. In particular, Lq(m) = ωcq ∩ Jq , and so
(m)
ℓR (Jq /ωcq ∩ Jq ) = ℓR (L(0)
q /Lq ) =

m
X

ℓR (L(i−1)
/L(i)
q
q ).

i=1

Therefore, it suffices to show that
ℓR (L(i−1)
/L(i)
q
q )
lim
q→∞
qd
exists for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m. However, the quotient map L(i−1)
։ L(i−1)
Ri
q
q
cq
(i)
(i−1)
∩ (mR + pi ) induce isomorphisms
and the recursion Lq = Lq
L(i−1)
q

=

L(i−1)
q

∼
=

L(i−1)
Ri
q

,
(i)
(i−1)
(i−1)
cq
+
p
)
Lq
Lq
L
∩ (mcq
R
∩
m
q
i
i
R
Ri
and it is apparent that the sequences of ideals in the numerator and
denominator of the right-most term above are p-families in the domain
Ri that satisfy the condition in the statement of the property (⋆). As
the Krull dimension of each Ri is bounded above by the Krull dimension
of R, we conclude that
ℓRi (L(i−1)
Ri /(L(i−1)
Ri ∩ mcq
ℓR (L(i−1)
/L(i)
q
q
Ri ))
q
q )
=
lim
lim
d
d
q→∞
q→∞
q
q
exists, which is what we needed to show.



5.3. A refined description of volumes. In this subsection, we derive a refinement of an important special case of Theorem 5.14. We
begin with a useful lemma.
Lemma 5.21. Let (R, m) be a d-dimensional local ring of characteristic
p > 0, and I• be a sequence of ideals of R indexed by the powers of p

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 35

such that mcq ⊆ Iq for some positive integer c and all q a power of p.
Suppose R is reduced, and that p1 , . . . , pn are the minimal primes of R.
If Ri = R/pi, then there exists δ > 0 such that for all q,
n
X

ℓRi (Ri /Iq Ri ) − ℓR (R/Iq ) ≤ δ · q d−1 .

i=1

Proof. As R is reduced, we have embeddings
R−
֒ → A :=

n
Y

i=1

Ri −
֒ → B :=

n
Y

Fi ,

i=1

where Fi is the fraction field of Ri . It is well-known that B is isomorphic to the localization of R at the multiplicative set consisting of its
nonzerodivisors (i.e., the ring of total fractions of R). As A is a finitelygenerated R-module, it follows that there exists an element x ∈ R that
is a nonzerodivisor on both A and R, and such that xA ⊆ R.
P
Next, observe that ℓR (A/Iq A) = ni=1 ℓRi (Ri /Iq Ri ), and so it suffices
to bound |ℓR (A/Iq A) − ℓR (R/Iq )| from above. However, the inclusion
R−
֒ → A gives rise to an exact sequence of R-modules
(5.3)

0 → (Iq A ∩ R)/Iq → R/Iq → A/Iq A → Cq → 0,

where Cq ∼
= A/(R + Iq A). In light of this, it suffices to bound the
R-module lengths of (Iq A ∩ R)/Iq ) and Cq .
We begin by considering the first length. By our choice of x ∈ R, we
have that Iq ⊆ Iq A ∩ R ⊆ (Iq : x), and Corollary 5.19 then tells us that
ℓR ((Iq A ∩ R)/Iq ) ≤ α · q d−1
for some positive constant α and for all values of q.
We now focus our attention on ℓR (Cq ). Set Ā = A/xA. By our
choice of x, we have that Iq A + xA ⊆ Iq A + R, and therefore,
Ā/Iq Ā ∼
= A/(Iq A + xA) ։ A/(Iq A + R) ∼
= Cq .
It follows from this and Lemma 5.17 that there exists β > 0 such that
ℓR (Cq ) ≤ ℓR (Ā/Iq Ā) ≤ βq dim Ā = β · q d−1 .
for all values of q.

36

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

In summary, (5.3) and the bounds established above show that
|ℓR (A/Iq A) − ℓR (R/Iq R)| ≤ max{α, β} · q d−1
for all q, which allows us to conclude the proof.



Proposition 5.22. Let (R, m) be a reduced local ring of characteristic
p > 0 such that the quotient of R by each minimal prime is an OK
domain (e.g., R is a reduced complete local ring of characteristic p > 0).
If I• is a p-family of m-primary ideals in R, then
volR (I• ) =

X

volA (I• A),

where the sum above is over all quotients A = R/p of R by a minimal
prime p such that dim(R) = dim(R/p).
Proof. By Theorem 5.14, we know that the volume of I• in R and the
volume of I• modulo any minimal prime of R exist. If p1 , . . . , pn are
the minimal primes of R, and Ri = R/pi for each such prime, it then
follows from this and Lemma 5.21 that
!
!
n
n
X
X
ℓ(Ri /Iq Ri )
ℓ(Ri /Iq Ri )
lim
volR (I• ) = lim
=
,
q→∞
q→∞
q dim R
q dim R
i=1
i=1
and the theorem follows upon observing that the i-th term in the last
sum above is zero whenever dim(Ri ) 6= dim(R).

Remark 5.23. Proposition 5.22 can be generalized as follows: Suppose that I• is a p-family of m-primary ideals in a local ring (R, m) of
characteristic p > 0 such that the R-module dimension of the nilradical of the completion R̂ of R is less than dim(R). If A is the quotient
of R̂ by its nilradical, then as in the proof of Theorem 5.15, we know
that volR (I• ) = volR̂ (I• R̂) = volA (I• A), and the latter volume can be
described using Proposition 5.22.
5.4. Consequences of convexity. In this subsection, we include some
results whose proofs rely strongly on convexity-based arguments.
Theorem 5.24. Let (R, m) be an OK local domain of characteristic
p > 0 (e.g., R is an excellent local domain of characteristic p > 0) and
dimension d, and let I• be a p-family of m-primary ideals in R. Then

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 37

volR (I• ) is positive if and only if there exists q◦ a power of p such that
Iqq◦ ⊆ m[q] for all q a power of p.
Proof. Fix a Z-linear embedding Zd −
֒ → R induced by a vector a ∈ Rd ,
and an OK valuation ν : F −։ Zd on the fraction field F of R that is
OK relative to R. Let C be the cone generated by ν(R), and let ∆ be
p-body associated to the p-system ν(I• ) in ν(R).
Observe that if w is the least ν-value among the values of some fixed
finite generating set for m, then every nonzero element of mq has value
at least qw. Thus, if q◦ is such that Iqq◦ ⊆ m[q] for all q, then
q◦ · ν(Iq ) ⊆ ν(Iqq◦ ) ⊆ qH,
where H is the halfspace of all points u in Rd with hu, ai ≥ hw, ai. In
particular, (1/q) · ν(Iq ), and hence the full p-body ∆, lies in (1/q◦ )H.
It then follows from Lemma 2.3 that volRd (C \ ∆) is positive, and
Corollary 5.12 allows us to conclude that the same is true for volR (I• ).
Next, instead suppose that volR (I• ), and therefore volRd (C \ ∆), is
positive, and fix a distinguished point v ∈ S as in Definition 3.1. If
µ is the minimal number of generators of m, and H is the halfspace
of points u in Rd with hu, ai ≥ hv, ai, then Lemma 2.3 tells us that
for all q◦ large enough, the p-body ∆ is contained in (µ/q◦ ) · H . In
particular, ν(Iqq◦ ) lies in qµ · H , and our choice of v then implies that

Iqq◦ ⊆ R ∩ F≥µqv ⊆ mµq ⊆ m[q] for all q.
We record some extensions of Theorem 5.24 below.
Remark 5.25 (Positivity of volumes, in general). Adopt the context
of Theorem 5.24, but rather than assuming that R is an OK local
domain, instead suppose that R is reduced and complete. In this case,
Proposition 5.22 tells us that volR (I• ) is positive if and only if there
exists a minimal prime p of R with dim(R/p) = dim(R), and such that
the volume of I• extended to R/p is positive. One may then apply
Theorem 5.24 to see that this holds if and only if
Iqq◦ ⊆ m[q] + p
for some q◦ and all q a power of p.

38

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Similarly, one may extend Theorem 5.24 to the most general setting
in which volR (I• ) must exist. Indeed, if we assume only that the Rmodule dimension of the nilradical of R̂ is less than dim(R), then as in
the proof of Theorem 5.15, if A is the quotient of R̂ by its nilradical,
then volR (I• ) = volR̂ (I• R̂) = volA (I• A), and the positivity of the later
volume was considered above.
Remark 5.26. The recent article [25] is concerned with sequences of
ideals I• = {Ipe }∞
e=1 of a local ring R of characteristic p > 0 with the
property that
(⋄)

∃ an R-linear φ : F∗ R → R for which φ(Ipq ) ⊆ Iq for all q.

One may think of this condition as a dual condition to that of forming
a p-family, in the sense that it guarantees that subsequent ideals in the
sequence are small in comparison to previous terms, while the condition
of forming a p-family guarantees that subsequent ideals in the sequence
are large in comparison to previous terms.
Given a sequence of ideals I• in a complete F -finite local domain
(R, m) satisfying condition (⋄), and such that m[q] ⊆ Iq for all q, it is
shown in [25, Theorem 5.5] that volR (I• ) = 0 if and only if ∩q Iq = 0.
Moreover, there exists a nonzero element c ∈ R such that either of
these conditions are equivalent to the condition that there exists q◦ a
power of p such that Iqq◦ ⊆ (m[q] : c) for all q a power of p. Contrast this
with the situation for p-bodies, in which it is possible to have p-family
I• of m-primary ideals in R with ∩q Iq = 0 but such that volR (I• ) is
√
positive. Indeed, the p-family given by Iq = hx⌊ q⌋ i in k[x]hxi is one
such example.
We conclude this section with the Brunn-Minkowski type inequality
mentioned in the introduction.
Theorem 5.27. Let I• and J• be m-primary p-families in a d-dimensional
local OK domain (R, m) of characteristic p > 0. If L• is the p-family
whose q-th term is the product of Iq and Jq , then
volR (I• )1/d + volR (J• )1/d ≥ volR (L• )1/d .

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 39

Proof. Let ν be a valuation that is OK relative to R, and let C be the
cone in Rd generated by ν(R). Observe that ν(Iq ) + ν(Jq ) ⊆ ν(Lq ) for
every q. Thus, if ∆′ , ∆′′ , and ∆ are the p-bodies associated to the psystems ν(I• ), ν(J• ), and ν(L• ) in ν(R), respectively, then ∆′ +∆′′ ⊆ ∆.
Therefore,
volRd (C \ ∆)1/d ≤ volRd (C \ (∆′ + ∆′′ ))1/d
≤ volRd (C \ ∆′ )1/d + volRd (C \ ∆′′ )1/d
where the second inequality follows from Theorem 2.2 and the fact
that the p-bodies under consideration are C-convex. The theorem then
follows from Theorem 5.11.

6. Applications and examples
We record some applications of the results in the previous sections.
6.1. Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity. The following, originally due to Monsky [20], is a corollary of Corollary 5.12.
Corollary 6.1 (Monsky). Let (R, m) be a complete local domain of
prime characteristic, and I and m-primary ideal. Then eHK (I) exists.
We note that Monsky’s result is more general, in that it holds in
an arbitrary local ring of prime characteristic. However, his argument
first reduces to the case of a complete local domain.
The remainder of the present subsection is dedicated to establishing
a new case of the existence of the generalized Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity.
Recall that the generalized Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of an ideal I of a
d-dimensional local ring (R, m) is defined as
egHK (I) = q→∞
lim

ℓ(Hm0 (R/I [q] ))
.
qd

We also note that Hm0 (R/I [q] ) = (I [q] )sat /I [q] , where bsat = (b : m∞ )
denotes the saturation of an ideal b of R.
Proposition 6.2. Let (R, m) be either an analytically irreducible local
ring, or a graded domain of characteristic p > 0, and let I be an ideal
of R that is homogeneous in the graded case. If there exists a positive

40

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

integer c such that
(†)

mcq ∩ (I [q] )sat = mcq ∩ I [q]

for all q a power of p, then egHK (I) exists.
Proof. In the local case this follows immediately from Theorem 5.11,
since completion does not affect the relevant lengths. In the graded
case, one may reduce to the local case by localizing at m, which again
does not affect any relevant lengths.

Remark 6.3. In his proof of the existence of epsilon multiplicity,
Cutkosky made use of [30, Theorem 3.4] to show that for every ideal I
in a Noetherian local ring (R, m), there exists a positive integer c such
that
mcn ∩ (I n )sat = mcq ∩ I n
for every positive integer n.
In the same way, a version of Swanson’s uniformity result [30, Theorem 3.4] for the Frobenius powers of an ideal I would imply that that
ideal satisfies the condition (†) in Proposition 6.2. However, this appears to be a subtle and complicated matter (but see [28] for some
positive results).
Remark 6.4. The condition (†) on I in Proposition 6.2 is related to a
notion of interest in tight closure theory. Namely, recall that an ideal
I is said to have the property (LC) if there exists a positive integer c
such that
mcq (I [q] )sat ⊆ I [q]
for all q. Clearly, the condition (†) in Proposition 6.2 implies (LC).
Remark 6.5. Vraciu has recently shown in [35] that if every ideal of
R satisfies the condition (LC), then egHK (I) exists for every ideal I of
R. According to Proposition 6.2, it is only necessary for the given ideal
I to satisfy (†) in order that egHK (I) exist.
We stress that it is not well-understood when a given ideal satisfies the condition (LC), and the same is true for the condition (†) in
Proposition 6.2. However, as we see in the proof of Corollary 6.7 below,

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 41

the latter condition does hold in the most general setting under which
(LC) is known to hold. In order to establish this, we need the following
lemma, which was shown to us by Ilya Smirnov.
Lemma 6.6. Let (R, m) be either a local or graded ring of characteristic p > 0, and let I be an ideal, homogeneous in the graded case, such
that dim(R/I) = 1. If there exists a positive integer c such that
mcq (I [q] )sat ⊆ I [q]
for all q a power of p, then there exists a positive integer b such that
mbq ∩ (I [q] )sat = mbq ∩ I [q]
for all q a power of p.
Proof. Fix a positive integer c such that mcq (I [q] )sat ⊆ I [q] for all q, and
an element x ∈ R that forms a parameter modulo I. If h ≥ c is an
integer, then the m-primary ideal (I [q] + xq )h lies in mcq , and hence,
multiplies the saturation of I [q] into I [q] . In particular, if h ≥ c, then
(6.1) (I [q] )sat = (I [q] : (I [q] + xq )∞ ) = (I [q] : (I [q] + xq )h ) = (I [q] : xhq )
Now, we claim that
(I [q] )sat ∩ (I [q] + xcq ) = I [q] .
It is obvious that I [q] is contained in the intersection above. For the
other containment, write an element in this intersection as f = y + xcq z
with y ∈ I [q] . By (6.1), we know that xcq f = xcq y + x2cq z must lie in
I [q] , so x2cq z ∈ I [q] . On the other hand, this and (6.1) implies that
xcq z ∈ I [q] , which allows us to conclude that f ∈ I [q] .
Finally, fix a such that ma ⊆ I + (xc ). If µ is the minimal number
of generators of ma , then maµq ⊆ (ma )[q] ⊆ I [q] + (xcq ), so that
maµq ∩ (I [q] )sat = maµq ∩ (I [q] )sat ∩ (I [q] + (xcq )) = maµq ∩ I [q] .
Thus the constant b = aµ satisfies the conclusion of the lemma.



Corollary 6.7. Let R be a graded domain of characteristic p > 0, and
I be a homogeneous ideal with dim(R/I) = 1. Then egHK (I) exists.

42

DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

Proof. It was shown by Vraciu [34] that such an ideal I satisfies the
condition (LC). The result then follows from Lemma 6.6 and Proposi
tion 6.2.
6.2. F -signature. Suppose that (R, m) is a local ring of characteristic
p > 0, and let I• be the sequence whose pe -th term consists of all z in
R such that φ(z) ∈ m for every φ in HomR (F∗e R, R). As in Example
5.4, this sequence is a p-family, and it is well-known that the terms in
this sequence are all proper and m-primary whenever R is F -pure. In
this case, the volume of this p-family equals the F -signature of (R, m).
More generally, if x is a nonzero element of an F -pure local ring (R, m),
and λ is a positive real parameter, then the limit
lim
q→∞

ℓ(R/(Iq : x⌈λq⌉ ))
qd

is called the F -signature of the pair (R, xλ ).
It is known that both versions of F -signature equal zero unless the
ambient ring is strongly F -regular, in which case it is a domain. In the
case of a local domain, Lemma 6.10 below shows that both these limits
always exist. We note that Corollary 6.8 is originally due to Tucker
[31], and Corollary 6.9 to Blickle, Schwede, and Tucker [2].
Corollary 6.8 (Tucker). The F -signature of a local domain of prime
characteristic exists.
Corollary 6.9. If x is a nonzero element of a local domain R of prime
characteristic, then the F -signature of the pair (R, xλ ) exists for every
positive real parameter λ.
We end this subsection with the lemma referenced above.
Lemma 6.10. Let (R, m) be a d-dimensional local ring of characteristic
p > 0. Fix a p-family of m-primary ideals I• of R, a positive real
number λ, and a nonzerodivisor x in R. If the R-module dimension of
the nilradical of R̂ is less than d, then the limit
ℓ(R/(Iq : x⌈λq⌉−1 z)
q→∞
qd
lim

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 43

exist for every nonzerodivisor z in R. Furthermore, the value of this
limit does not depend on the choice of the nonzerodivisor z.
Proof. By Remark 5.3, there exists a positive integer c such that mcq
lies in Iq for all q a power of p. For every such q, set
Lq = (Iq : x⌈λq⌉−1 z).
As in Example 5.7, the sequence whose q-term is
Jq = (Iq : x⌈λq⌉−1 )
is a p-family in R, and by definition, Jq ⊆ Lq ⊆ (Jq : z) for every q.
The Lemma then follows from Corollary 5.19 and Corollary 5.12. 
6.3. Explicit computations in the toric case. Fix a closed fulldimensional pointed cone C in Rd generated by a finite subset of Qd .
Let S be the semigroup C ∩ Zd , let k be a field of characteristic p > 0,
and let R be the semigroup ring k[S]. D will denote the localization of
R at m, the maximial ideal generated by the monomials with nonzero
exponent, and F its fraction field.
Consider the valuation ν : F× −։ Zd that is OK relative to D
described in Example 3.3. By construction, the semigroup ν(D) equals
S, the cone generated by S is the ambient cone C, and the extension of
residue fields k ֒→ kV is an isomorphism. Moreover, if U is a subset of
S, and I is the ideal of D generated by the monomials whose exponents
lie in U, then it is straightforward to verify that
(6.2)

ν(I) = U + S.

Finally, in this context, if I• is a p-family of m-primary ideals in D,
and ∆ is the p-body associated the p-system of semigroup ideals ν(I• )
in S, then Corollary 5.12 tells us that
(6.3)

volD (I• ) = lim

q→∞

ℓ(D/Iq )
= volRd (C \ ∆).
qd

Example 6.11 (The Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of a monomial ideal).
Let b be an m-primary ideal of R generated by monomials whose exponents belong to some subset U of S, and let I• be the p-family of
ideals in D whose q-th term is the expansion of b[q] to D. It follows

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DANIEL J. HERNÁNDEZ AND JACK JEFFRIES

from (6.2) that ν(Iq ) = qU + S, and Example 4.6 then tells us that the
p-body associated to ν(I• ) is ∆ = U +C. In this case, (6.3) recovers the
formula of Watanabe [36] and Eto [9], which states that the HilbertKunz multiplicity of the expansion of b to the local ring D equals the
Euclidean volume of C \ (U + C).
Example 6.12 (The F -signature of a local toric ring). It is well-known
that every finitely generated rational cone is rational polyhedral. In
particular, there exist v1 , . . . , vn in Qd such that a point u in Rd lies
in C if and only if hu, vi i is nonnegative for every vi . We may assume
that no proper subset of these vectors defines C, and after rescaling
each vector by a positive rational number, we may also assume that
the coordinates of each vi are relatively prime integers. With these
assumptions, the vectors v1 , . . . , vn are uniquely determined by C.
Let P be the polyhedral set consisting of all points u in Rd such
that 0 ≤ hu, vi i < 1 for every vi , and let I• be the p-family ideals in
D that define the F -signature of D. It is not difficult to verify (see,
e.g., [33, Lemma 6.6(2)]) that each Iq is a monomial ideal, and it is
shown in Lemma 3.8 and Lemma 3.11 of [33] that a monomial xu lies
in Iq if and only if u lies in S \ qP . In light of this, (6.2) tells us that
ν(Iq ) = S \ qP + S. Consequently,




∆q (S, ν(I• )) = (1/q)Zd ∩ C \ P + C,
from which it follows that the union ∆(S, ν(I• )) = ∪q ∆q (S, ν(I• ))
agrees with C \ P , up to closure. In this case, (6.3) recovers the results
of Watanabe and Yoshida [37] and Von Korff [33], which state that the
F -signature of D equals the Euclidean volume of C \ P .

Acknowedgements
The authors thank Ilya Smirnov for showing us Lemma 6.6, and
Thomas Polstra for his questions that inspired us to prove Theorem 5.24.
We also thank Karl Schwede, Anurag Singh, Karen Smith, Kevin Tucker,
and Emily Witt for helpful conversations.

LOCAL OKOUNKOV BODIES AND LIMITS IN PRIME CHARACTERISTIC 45

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