CONSTRUCTING NONPROXY SMALL TEST MODULES FOR THE COMPLETE INTERSECTION PROPERTY

A local ring R is regular if and only if every finitely generated R-module has finite projective dimension. Moreover, the residue field k is a test module: R is regular if and only if k has finite projective dimension. This characterization can be extended to the bounded derived category $\mathsf {D}^{\mathsf f}(R)$ , which contains only small objects if and only if R is regular. Recent results of Pollitz, completing work initiated by Dwyer–Greenlees–Iyengar, yield an analogous characterization for complete intersections: R is a complete intersection if and only if every object in $\mathsf {D}^{\mathsf f}(R)$ is proxy small. In this paper, we study a return to the world of R-modules, and search for finitely generated R-modules that are not proxy small whenever R is not a complete intersection. We give an algorithm to construct such modules in certain settings, including over equipresented rings and Stanley–Reisner rings.