Absolute bounds on the number of generators of Cohen-Macaulay ideals of height at most 2

Abstract

For a Noetherian local domain $A$, there exists an upper bound $N_τ(A)$ on the minimal number of generators of any height two ideal $I$ for which $A/I$ is Cohen-Macaulay of type $τ$. More precisely, we may take $N_τ(A):=(τ+1)e_{\text{h}}(A)$, where $e_{\text{h}}(A)$ is the homological multiplicity of $A$.