Locally nilpotent derivations of graded integral domains and cylindricity

Abstract: Let B be a commutative $\mathbb{Z}$-graded domain of characteristic zero. An element f of B is said to be cylindrical if it is nonzero, homogeneous of nonzero degree, and such that $B_{(f)}$ is a polynomial ring in one variable over a subring. We study the relation between the existence of a cylindrical element of B and the existence of a nonzero locally nilpotent derivation of B. Also, given d > 0, we give sufficient conditions that guarantee that every derivation of $B^{(d)} = \oplus_i B_{di}$ can be extended to a derivation of B. We generalize some results of Kishimoto, Prokhorov and Zaidenberg that relate the cylindricity of a polarized projective variety (Y,H) to the existence of a nontrivial G_a-action on the affine cone over (Y,H).