Multiplicities and degree functions in local rings via intersection products

We prove a theorem on the intersection theory over a Noetherian local ring $R$, which gives a new proof of a classical theorem of Rees about degree functions. To obtain this, we define an intersection product on schemes that are proper and birational over such rings $R$, using the theory of rational equivalence developed by Thorup, and the Snapper-Mumford-Kleiman intersection theory for proper schemes over an Artinian local ring. Our development of this product is essentially self-contained. As a central component of the proof of our main theorem, we extend to arbitrary Noetherian local rings a formula by Ramanujam that computes Hilbert-Samuel multiplicities. In the final section, we express mixed multiplicities in terms of intersection theory and conclude from this that they satisfy a certain multilinearity condition. Then we interpret some theorems of Rees and Sharp and of Teissier about mixed multiplicities over $2$-dimensional excellent local rings in terms of our intersection product.