Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-13/4/solution

Order the index set of the open cover . The Čech cochain groups are
and their differential is the alternating sum of restrictions:
Terms obtained by deleting two indices cancel in pairs, so . The Čech cohomology is , with zero incoming differential in degree zero. Its zeroth group is the group of global sections by sheaf gluing.
The acyclic cover theorem applies if every nonempty finite intersection is acyclic for . For a quasi-coherent sheaf on a variety it is sufficient that every such intersection is affine; on a separated variety, any affine open cover has this property. On , take the standard charts . Every intersection is a principal open in an affine chart, hence affine. The Čech complex has no terms above degree , proving
This is the cohomological dimension bound from an affine cover and requires only quasi-coherence, not finite generation.
For the remaining projective calculations assume . There is a necessary zero-dimensional exception to the negative-twist assertion: is a point, every twist is trivial there, and even for .
Put with its usual grading. The twisting sheaf on projective space is the sheaf associated with the shifted graded module ; on an intersection its sections are
On a generator is , with transition . These are regular units on overlaps and satisfy the cocycle relation, so they glue an invertible sheaf for every integer , including negative .
A global section is a compatible family of these homogeneous fractions, hence a single element of degree in . For , and are relatively prime in the unique factorization domain , so ; therefore the full intersection is . It follows that
For its dimension is . The proof uses all-chart compatibility; regularity on one chart alone would permit poles on its complement.
If some , the ideal contains , so the requested containment is immediate. Otherwise every . A monomial of degree must have for some : if not, its total degree would be at most . Thus every degree- monomial, and hence every homogeneous polynomial of that degree, belongs to . This is monomial containment in an ideal of coordinate powers.
For , a top-degree Čech cochain for is a degree-zero Laurent polynomial on the full intersection. Write it with a common denominator as
The containment just proved gives , with homogeneous of degree . Consequently
The th term is regular on the intersection omitting , and has degree zero. Give it the sign in that component of the preceding Čech cochain. Its coboundary is the original fraction. Every top cochain is thus a coboundary, and
This is top Čech cohomology from missing-denominator monomials.
To obtain the negative-twist bound by induction on dimension, let be a hyperplane, with inclusion . Its equation gives the hyperplane exact sequence for twisting sheaves
The associated long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology and sheaf cohomology under a closed inclusion give
For , restriction is the surjection . Exactness and the already proved give . The displayed surjections then give the same vanishing for every . This handles the point hyperplane without making a false negative-twist claim on .
For , the induction hypothesis in dimension gives whenever . Therefore consecutive top-degree groups are isomorphic for . Starting with and stepping down through reaches . Stepping upward proves all positive twists too. We conclude
This is top-twist vanishing by hyperplane induction.
Finally, on write and . On , let be the wedge of for , taken in increasing index order. For , differentiating and gives
In the wedge, all terms involving a second copy of disappear; the surviving powers are from and from the other differentials. Moving into its original position produces the stated sign. Rescale each local generator by . Then on every overlap, exactly the transition of the twist with . This canonical-form transition on projective space proves the canonical bundle of projective space:
For line bundles the Serre duality pairing becomes
In particular is dual to , which is zero for , precisely the independently obtained bound. The case recovers , and matches . Thus the calculated transition functions, global sections and top-degree vanishing agree with Serre duality.

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