On the Grinberg - Kazhdan formal arc theorem

Abstract

Let X be an algebraic variety over a field k, and L(X) be the scheme of formal arcs in X. Let f be an arc whose image is not contained in the singularities of X. Grinberg and Kazhdan proved that if k has characteristic 0 then the formal neighborhood of f in L(X) admits a decomposition into a product of an infinite-dimensional smooth piece and a piece isomorphic to the formal neighborhood of a closed point of a scheme of finite type. We give a short proof of this theorem without the characteristic 0 assumption.