On Izumi's theorem on comparison of valuations

Abstract

We prove that the sequence of MacLane key polynomials constructed in \cite{Mac1} and \cite{Sp2} for a valuation extension $(K,ν)\subset (K(x),μ)$ is finite, provided that both $ν$ and $μ$ are divisorial and $μ$ is centered over an analytically irreducible local domain $(R,\frak{m})\subset K[x]$. As a corollary, we prove Izumi's theorem on comparison of divisorial valuations. %We show that the existence of Izumi constants is equivalent to the finiteness of the sequence of the MacLane key-polynomials. We give explicit bounds for the Izumi constant in terms of the key polynomials of the valuations. We show that this bound can be attained in some cases.