A variation on a theme of Vasconcelos

A classical result of W. Vasconcelos (1967, J. Algebra 6, 309–316) and D. Ferrand (1967, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 264, 427–428) provides necessary and sufficient conditions for an ideal to be generated by a regular sequence. In this paper, we provide generally more accessible conditions guaranteeing this property, as well as some examples indicating that our hypotheses cannot be significantly weakened. The key step in our development is the use of lifting, as presented by M. Auslander, et al. (1993, J. Algebra 156, 273–317).