Multiplicity = Volume formula and Newton non-degenerate ideals in regular local rings

Abstract We develop the notions of Newton non-degenerate (NND) ideals and Newton polyhedra for regular local rings. These concepts were first defined in the context of complex analysis. We show that the characterization of NND ideals via their integral closures known in the analytical setting extends to regular local rings. We use the limiting body $${\mathcal {C}}({\mathcal {I}})$$ C ( I ) associated to a graded family $${\mathcal {I}}$$ I of ideals to provide a new understanding of the celebrated “Multiplicity $$=$$ = Volume” formula. Particularly, we prove that, for a Noetherian graded family $${\mathcal {I}}$$ I of $${\mathfrak m}$$ m -primary ideals in a regular local ring $$(R,{\mathfrak m})$$ ( R , m ) of dimension d , the equality $$\begin{aligned} e({\mathcal {I}}) = d!\operatorname {co-vol}_d({\mathcal {C}}({\mathcal {I}})) \end{aligned}$$ e ( I ) = d ! co-vol d ( C ( I ) ) holds if and only if $${\mathcal {I}}$$ I contains certain subfamily of NND ideals.