Finiteness of the set of associated primes for local cohomology modules of ideals via properties of almost factorial rings

We investigate the finiteness of the set of associated primes for local cohomology modules $H_I^{i}(J)$ of an ideal $J$ generated by an $R$-sequence, through the comparison of $H_I^{d+1}(J)$ and $H_I^d(R/J)$, where $d = \mathrm{depth}_I(R)$. The properties of almost factorial rings play a key role in enabling this comparison. Under suitable conditions, we prove that the finiteness of $\mathrm{Ass} H_I^{d+1}(J)$ is equivalent to that of $\mathrm{Ass} H_I^d(R/J)$. Moreover, we give a few conditions under which the finiteness of $\mathrm{Ass} H_I^i(J)$ holds for all $i$.