Excellence in prime characteristic

Abstract

Fix any field $K$ of characteristic $p$ such that $[K:K^p]$ is finite. We discuss excellence for Noetherian domains whose fraction field is $K$, showing for example, that $R$ is excellent if and only if the Frobenius map is finite on $R$. Furthermore, we show $R$ is excellent if and only if it admits some non-zero $p^{-e}$-linear map for $R$ or equivalently, that $R$ is a solid $R$-algebra under Frobenius. In particular, this means that Frobenius split Noetherian domains that are generically $F$-finite are always excellent. We also show that non-excellent rings are abundant and easy to construct in prime characteristic, even within the world of regular local rings of dimension one in function fields. This paper is mostly expository in nature.