Abstract dilatations and infinitely near points

Abstract

In the following pages there is developed an abstract theory of infinitely near points for two-dimensional regular local rings which have infinite residue fields. The scope of the theory may be indicated by the fact that it contains generalizations of Noether's formula for intersection multiplicities (Theorem 8), the theory of proximate points (§ 8) and the conditions for a set of integers to be curve multiplicities at a given finite sequence of consecutive points (§ 10). To this extent our account resembles that given by van der Waerden ((6), Chap. 9), but the starting point and (with the exception of the concluding section) the type of reasoning employed are very different. There is also a marked contrast with the methods used by Zariski (7) in an account of related topics.