Annihilators of $A\mathcal{V}$-modules and differential operators

Abstract

For a smooth algebraic variety $X$, we study the category of finitely generated modules over the ring of function of $X$ that has a compatible action of the Lie algebra $\mathcal{V}$ of polynomials vector fields on $X$. We show that the associated representation of $\mathcal{V}$ is given by a differential operator of order depending on the rank of the module. The order of the differential operator provides a natural measure of the complexity of the representation, with the simplest case being that of $D$-modules.