In mathematics, the Jacobian ideal or gradient ideal is the ideal generated by the Jacobian of a function or function germ.
Let
denote the ring of smooth functions in
variables and
a function in the ring. The Jacobian ideal of
is

In deformation theory, the deformations of a hypersurface given by a polynomial
is classified by the ring
This is shown using the Kodaira–Spencer map.
Relation to Hodge theory
In Hodge theory, there are objects called real Hodge structures which are the data of a real vector space
and an increasing filtration
of
satisfying a list of compatibility structures. For a smooth projective variety
there is a canonical Hodge structure.
Statement for degree d hypersurfaces
In the special case
is defined by a homogeneous degree
polynomial
this Hodge structure can be understood completely from the Jacobian ideal. For its graded-pieces, this is given by the map[1]which is surjective on the primitive cohomology, denoted
and has the kernel
. Note the primitive cohomology classes are the classes of
which do not come from
, which is just the Lefschetz class
.
Sketch of proof
Reduction to residue map
For
there is an associated short exact sequence of complexeswhere the middle complex is the complex of sheaves of logarithmic forms and the right-hand map is the residue map. This has an associated long exact sequence in cohomology. From the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem there is only one interesting cohomology group of
, which is
. From the long exact sequence of this short exact sequence, there the induced residue mapwhere the right hand side is equal to
, which is isomorphic to
. Also, there is an isomorphism Through these isomorphisms there is an induced residue mapwhich is injective, and surjective on primitive cohomology. Also, there is the Hodge decompositionand
.
Computation of de Rham cohomology group
In turns out the de Rham cohomology group
is much more tractable and has an explicit description in terms of polynomials. The
part is spanned by the meromorphic forms having poles of order
which surjects onto the
part of
. This comes from the reduction isomorphismUsing the canonical
-formon
where the
denotes the deletion from the index, these meromorphic differential forms look likewhereFinally, it turns out the kernel[1] Lemma 8.11 is of all polynomials of the form
where
. Note the Euler identityshows
.
References
See also