Erratic birational behavior of mappings in positive characteristic

Birational properties of generically finite morphisms of algebraic varieties can be understood locally by a valuation of the function field of X . In finite extensions of algebraic local rings in characteristic zero algebraic function fields which are dominated by a valuation, there are nice monomial forms of the mapping after blowing up enough, which reflect classical invariants of the valuation. Further, these forms are stable upon suitable further blowing up. In positive characteristic algebraic function fields, it is not always possible to find a monomial form after blowing up along a valuation, even in dimension two. In dimension two and positive characteristic, after enough blowing up, there are stable forms of the mapping which hold upon suitable sequences of blowing up. We give examples showing that even within these stable forms, the forms can vary dramatically (erratically) upon further blowing up. We construct these examples in defect Artin–Schreier extensions which can have any prescribed distance.