Descent of Flatness and the Direct Summand Conjecture

Abstract

In the central theorem of this article we prove the following: if $R$ is a complete regular local ring and $B$ is the integral closure of $R$ in the algebraic closure of the fraction field of $R$, then $\Hom_R(B, R) \neq 0$. Our proof of this theorem does not involve almost mathematics and it works for all characteristics. As consequences we derive the validity of a) descent of flatness for integral extensions of Noetherian rings and b) direct summand conjecture due to M. Hochster.