On the rigidity of small domains

Abstract

Let $K$ be an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. Let $A$ be an affine domain over $K$ with transcendence degree 1 which is not isomorphic to $K[x]$, and let $B$ be a domain over $K$. We show that the AK invariant distributes over the tensor product of $A$ by $B$. As a consequence, we obtain a generalization of the cancellation theorem of S. Abhyankar, P. Eakin, and W. Heinzer.