Nash blowups in prime characteristic

We initiate the study of Nash blowups in prime characteristic. First, we show that a normal variety is non-singular if and only if its Nash blowup is an isomorphism, extending a theorem by A. Nobile. We also study higher Nash blowups, as defined by T. Yasuda. Specifically, we give a characteristic-free proof of a higher version of Nobile’s theorem for quotient varieties and hypersurfaces. We also prove a weaker version for F -pure varieties.