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A flat ring map is faithfully flat exactly when it detects proper ideals and is surjective on spectra
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice for the prime and maximal ideal existence used in the spectral reformulations.
Let be a flat homomorphism of commutative rings. The following are equivalent:
- is faithfully flat.
- For every proper ideal , the extended ideal is proper.
- Every maximal ideal of has a prime ideal of lying over it.
- The map on prime spectra is surjective.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A flat ring map .
Faithful flatness for the -module is equivalent to detecting every nonzero module and every residue field fibre (For a flat module, faithful flatness is equivalent to detecting nonzero modules and residue fields).
A flat ring map is precisely a flat -module structure on its target (Flat and faithfully flat modules and ring homomorphisms).
Proof
By [L2], the flatness of is the flatness of the -module . For a proper ideal , the quotient is nonzero, and Therefore [L1] says that is faithfully flat exactly when for every proper ideal , which is equivalent to . So 1 and 2 are equivalent.
A prime of lying over a maximal ideal exists exactly when the fibre ring is nonzero. Since and is maximal, this is precisely the maximal-ideal fibre condition in [L1]. Thus 1 and 3 are equivalent.
Assume 1 and let be prime. By the prime-fibre form of [L1], the ring is nonzero. Choose a prime ideal , and let be its preimage in . Because the composite factors through , every element of maps to in , so . If , then its image in the field is a unit, hence its image in is a unit and cannot lie in the prime . Therefore , so . Thus a prime of lies over , and 1 implies 4.
Condition 4 obviously implies 3. Since step 1.2 gives 3 if and only if 1, condition 4 is equivalent to 1 as well.
Therefore 1, 2, 3, and 4 are equivalent.
Depends on
Used by
- Finite generation descends along faithfully flat ring maps Corollary
- A finite product of principal localizations covering the spectrum is faithfully flat Example
- A polynomial algebra is free and therefore faithfully flat over its coefficient ring Example
- A proper localization is flat but need not be faithfully flat Example
- Every flat ring map satisfies going down Theorem
- Flatness descends along faithfully flat base change Theorem
- Jacobson-adic completion is faithfully flat Theorem
Dependency tree · two levels
6 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- Stacks Project, Lemma 10.39.16 (standard reference, not scraped)
- J. S. Milne, A Primer of Commutative Algebra, Propositions 11.18-11.19 (standard reference, not scraped)