$F$-nilpotent rings and permanence properties

Abstract: We explore the singularity classes $F$-nilpotent, weakly $F$-nilpotent, and generalized weakly $F$-nilpotent under faithfully flat local ring maps. As an application, we show that the loci of primes in a Noetherian ring of prime characteristic which define either weakly $F$-nilpotent or $F$-nilpotent local rings are open with respect to the Zariski topology whenever $R$ is $F$-finite or essentially of finite type over an excellent local ring.