Properties of chains of prime ideals in an amalgamated algebra along an ideal

Let $f:A \to B$ be a ring homomorphism and let $J$ be an ideal of $B$. In this paper, we study the amalgamation of $A$ with $B$ along $J$ with respect to $f$ (denoted by ${A\Join^fJ}$), a construction that provides a general frame for studying the amalgamated duplication of a ring along an ideal, introduced and studied by D'Anna and Fontana in 2007, and other classical constructions (such as the $A+ XB[X]$, the $A+ XB[[X]]$ and the $D+M$ constructions). In particular, we completely describe the prime spectrum of the amalgamated duplication and we give bounds for its Krull dimension.Comment: J. Pure Appl. Algebra (to appear

The numerical duplication of a numerical semigroup

In this paper we present and study the numerical duplication of a numerical semigroup, a construction that, starting with a numerical semigroup $S$ and a semigroup ideal $E\subseteq S$, produces a new numerical semigroup, denoted by S\Join^b\E (where $b$ is any odd integer belonging to $S$), such that S=(S\Join^b\E)/2. In particular, we characterize the ideals $E$ such that $S\Join^bE$ is almost symmetric and we determine its type.Comment: 17 pages. Accepted for publication on: Semigroup Foru

A family of quotients of the Rees algebra

A family of quotient rings of the Rees algebra associated to a commutative ring is studied. This family generalizes both the classical concept of idealization by Nagata and a more recent concept, the amalgamated duplication of a ring. It is shown that several properties of the rings of this family do not depend on the particular member.Comment: 17 pages. To appear on "Communications in Algebra

Arf characters of an algebroid curve

Two algebroid branches are said to be equivalent if they have the same multiplicity sequence. It is known that two algebroid branches $R$ and $T$ are equivalent if and only if their Arf closures, $R'$ and $T'$ have the same value semigroup, which is an Arf numerical semigroup and can be expressed in terms of a finite set of information, a set of characters of the branch. We extend the above equivalence to algebroid curves with $d>1$ branches. An equivalence class is described, in this more general context, by an Arf semigroup, that is not a numerical semigroup, but is a subsemigroup of $\mathbb N^d$. We express this semigroup in terms of a finite set of information, a set of characters of the curve, and apply this result to determine other curves equivalent to a given one.Comment: 17 page