Vasconcelos' conjecture on the conormal module

Abstract

For any ideal $I$ of finite projective dimension in a commutative noetherian local ring $R$, we prove that if the conormal module $I/I^2$ has finite projective dimension over $R/I$, then $I$ must be generated by a regular sequence. This resolves a conjecture of Vasconcelos. We prove a similar result for the first Koszul homology module of $I$. When $R$ is a localisation of a polynomial ring over a field $K$ of characteristic zero, Vasconcelos conjectured that $R/I$ is a reduced complete intersection if the module $\Omega_{(R/I)/K}$ of differentials has finite projective dimension; we prove this contingent on the Eisenbud-Mazur conjecture. The arguments exploit the structure of the homotopy Lie algebra associated to $I$ in an essential way. By work of Avramov and Halperin, if every degree $2$ element of the homotopy Lie algebra is radical, then $I$ is generated by a regular sequence. Iyengar has shown that free summands of $I/I^2$ give rise to central elements of the homotopy Lie algebra, and we establish an analogous criterion for constructing radical elements, from which we deduce our main result.