Multidegrees, families, and integral dependence

We study the behavior of multidegrees in families and the existence of numerical criteria to detect integral dependence. We show that mixed multiplicities of modules are upper semicontinuous functions when taking fibers and that projective degrees of rational maps are lower semicontinuous under specialization. We investigate various aspects of the polar multiplicities and Segre numbers of an ideal and introduce a new invariant that we call polar-Segre multiplicities. In terms of polar multiplicities and our new invariants, we provide a new integral dependence criterion for certain families of ideals. By giving specific examples, we show that the Segre numbers are the only invariants among the ones we consider that can detect integral dependence. Finally, we generalize the result of Gaffney and Gassler regarding the lexicographic upper semicontinuity of Segre numbers.