The Grade Conjecture and Asymptotic Intersection Multiplicity

Given a finitely generated module $M$ over a local ring $A$ of characteristic $p$ with $\pd M < \infty$, we study the asymptotic intersection multiplicity $\chi_\infty(M, A/\underline{x})$, where $\underline{x} = (x_1, \ldots, x_r)$ is a system of parameters for $M$. We show that there exists a system of parameters such that $\chi_\infty$ is positive if and only if $\dim \Ext^{d-r}(M, A) = r$, where $d = \dim A$ and $r = \dim M$. We use this to prove several results relating to the Grade Conjecture, which states that $\grade M + \dim M = \dim A$ for any module $M$ with $\pd M < \infty$.