Differential and symbolic powers of ideals

Abstract: We characterize symbolic powers of prime ideals in polynomial rings over any field in terms of $\mathbb{Z}$-linear differential operators, and of prime ideals in polynomial rings over complete discrete valuation rings with a $p$-derivation $\delta$ in terms of $\mathbb{Z}$-linear differential operators and of $\delta$. This extends previous work of the same authors, as it allows the removal of separability hypotheses that were otherwise necessary. The absence of separability and the fact that modules of $\mathbb{Z}$-linear differential operators are typically not finitely generated require the introduction of new techniques. As a byproduct, we extend a characterization of symbolic powers due to Cid-Ruiz which also holds in the nonsmooth case. Finally, we produce an example of an unramified discrete valuation ring that has no $p$-derivations.