Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/iii/paper-14/4/solution

Let with its usual grading, and put . Define the twisting sheaf on projective space by
More explicitly, on its sections are the homogeneous degree- part of . They are a free rank-one module over , with generator . These generators make sense for every integer , since is invertible on this chart. Their transition rule is
The ratios are regular units on overlaps and satisfy the cocycle identity, so they glue to an invertible sheaf. In particular .
For , a global section is a compatible homogeneous degree- rational expression lying in every . Inside the fraction field of ,
To justify this, write a fraction in lowest terms in the unique factorization domain . Membership in forces every irreducible divisor of its denominator to be associated with . Since there are at least two nonassociated variables, the denominator must be a unit. Therefore
The degree- monomials are indexed by nonnegative integers with sum . The stars and bars count gives
Here and below, an all-integer binomial shorthand must use the counting convention when , including negative . The polynomial extension of binomial coefficients to negative upper arguments does not give the stated dimensions. In dimension zero, is one point and every is trivial, so its space of global sections is for every ; this case is treated separately.
For a closed inclusion , direct image sheaf formation is exact: its stalk is the original stalk at a point of and zero outside . It preserves flabby sheaves, since restrictions on the target are restrictions between the corresponding open subsets of . Push forward a flasque resolution of ; exactness gives a flasque resolution of , and its complex of global sections is the original one because
Taking cohomology of these identical complexes proves sheaf cohomology under a closed inclusion:
This argument applies even without quasi-coherence.
We derive the remaining sheaf cohomology dimensions using the given eventual vanishing, the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology, and induction on dimension. Multiplication by the linear equation of a hyperplane gives the hyperplane exact sequence for twisting sheaves
Exactness can be checked in each chart by quotienting its polynomial ring by the equation of ; multiplication is injective because that equation is a non-zero-divisor. We use the closed-inclusion cohomology identification to replace the cohomology of the final sheaf by that on .
The dimension-zero base is a point, whose global-section functor is exact. Thus all its higher sheaf cohomology is zero. For , the relevant long exact sequence is
When , restriction of homogeneous polynomials to the hyperplane point is surjective: after choosing that point as , the section restricts to a generator. Therefore the consecutive groups are isomorphic for . The given vanishing for large propagates down to . For , both displayed groups are zero, and the sequence becomes
Starting with , induction downward gives for . For degrees , the point contributes no cohomology to the exact sequence, so consecutive groups are isomorphic for every ; the given eventual vanishing makes them all zero. Hence the complete positive-degree formula holds for .
Now let and assume the formulas for . For every , the restriction
is surjective: for extend a polynomial in the hyperplane coordinates to the same polynomial on , and for both groups vanish because has positive dimension. Consequently the exact sequence gives an injection
For , the induction hypothesis says , and gives the same injection in degree . For each fixed , composing finitely many injections reaches a sufficiently large twist, whose higher cohomology is zero by the given hypothesis. Therefore
For , the two neighbouring hyperplane groups and are zero by induction. Consecutive groups on are then isomorphic, and eventual vanishing again makes them zero. This derives vanishing above the dimension too, without needing a special projective-space cohomology theorem.
For top cohomology the exact sequence now reduces to
Write . The induction hypothesis and eventual vanishing give the recurrence
Consecutive top groups agree for , so descending from a large twist gives for . Below this range, iterating the recurrence gives a finite sum:
The last equality follows by summing Pascal's identity. These short exact sequences also prove that every group whose dimension is being counted is finite-dimensional. Thus, for ,
With the stated counting convention, the latter is the requested single binomial formula. The base has for all twists and no higher cohomology; it is not governed by the negative-twist rule for positive-dimensional projective space.
Finally calculate the canonical line bundle of a smooth variety from its transition functions. On write for . On , , take the coordinates in increasing order of . Thus
In their wedge product, and
. Every term involving a second vanishes, so reordering the remaining differentials gives
This computation is valid in every characteristic. Multiply the ordered local generator on by . The resulting generators satisfy on , and hence the corresponding transition rule on every overlap. They are exactly the transitions of . Therefore the canonical bundle of projective space is
For a line bundle, Serre duality states
The intermediate groups on both sides vanish. In the two outer degrees, the top group at twist has the same dimension as the global-section group at twist :
The polynomial degree on the right is nonnegative precisely when , and its dimension is . Interchanging and checks the other outer degree. On both sides are one-dimensional. Thus all the formulas are consistent with Serre duality, which was used only for this final consistency check, not to prove the cohomology formulas.

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