Centers of F-purity

Abstract

In this paper, we study a positive characteristic analogue of the centers of log canonicity of a pair $(R, \Delta)$. We call these analogues centers of $F$-purity. We prove positive characteristic analogues of subadjunction-like results, prove new stronger subadjunction-like results, and in some cases, lift these new results to characteristic zero. Using a generalization of centers of $F$-purity which we call uniformly $F$-compatible ideals, we give a characterization of the test ideal (which unifies several previous characterizations). Finally, in the case that $\Delta = 0$, we show that uniformly $F$-compatible ideals coincide with the annihilators of the $\mathcal{F}(E_R(k))$-submodules of $E_R(k)$ as defined by Smith and Lyubeznik.