FI-modules over Noetherian rings

FI-modules were introduced by the first three authors in [CEF] to encode sequences of representations of symmetric groups. Over a field of characteristic 0, finite generation of an FI-module implies representation stability for the corresponding sequence of S_n-representations. In this paper we prove the Noetherian property for FI-modules over arbitrary Noetherian rings: any sub-FI-module of a finitely generated FI-module is finitely generated. This lets us extend many of the results of [CEF] to representations in positive characteristic, and even to integral coefficients. We focus on three major applications of the main theorem: on the integral and mod p cohomology of configuration spaces; on diagonal coinvariant algebras in positive characteristic; and on an integral version of Putman's central stability for homology of congruence subgroups.