A degree bound for rings of arithmetic invariants

Abstract: Consider a Noetherian domain $R$ and a finite group $G \subseteq Gl_n(R)$. We prove that if the ring of invariants $R[x_1, \ldots, x_n]^G$ is a Cohen-Macaulay ring, then it is generated as an $R$-algebra by elements of degree at most $\max(|G|,n(|G|-1))$. As an intermediate result we also show that if $R$ is a Noetherian local ring with infinite residue field then such a ring of invariants of a finite group $G$ over $R$ contains a homogeneous system of parameters consisting of elements of degree at most $|G|$.