On an example of Nagarajan

Abstract

K. R. Nagarajan constructed an example of a formal power series ring of dimension two, over a field of characteristic two, with the action of a cyclic group of order two, such that the ring of invariants is not noetherian. We point out how Nagarajan's example readily extends to each positive prime characteristic, and also to a characteristic zero example: There exists a formal power series ring of dimension two, over a field of characteristic zero, with an action of the infinite cyclic group, such that the ring of invariants is not noetherian. Both the positive characteristic and the characteristic zero examples are sharp in multiple ways.