Cohen-Macaulay and Gorenstein property of Rees algebras of non-singular equimultiple prime ideals

We give criteria for the Cohen-Macaulay and Gorenstein property of Rees algebras of height 2 non-singular equimultiple prime ideals in terms of explicite representations of the associated graded rings. As consequences, we show that in general, the Cohen-Macaulay resp. Gorenstein property of such Rees algebras does not imply the Cohen-Macaulay resp. Gorenstein property of the base ring and that these properties depend upon the characteristic. Dedicated to the memrory of Professor Lê Van Thiêm Professor Lê Van Thiêm was the first directorof Hanoi Institute of Mathematics