Picard group of the projective line

ID: picard-group-of-the-projective-line

For any field , degree identifies the Picard group of the projective line with , generated by . A closed point on the affine chart is cut out by an irreducible polynomial , whose divisor is that point minus times infinity. Hence every divisor is linearly equivalent to its degree times infinity. Principal divisors have degree zero, so the degree map is injective as well as surjective. Thus a line bundle of degree is .

New to topics? Read the docs here!