Canonical line bundle of a smooth variety (${\omega }_X={\bigwedge }^n{\Omega }_{X/k}^1$)

For a smooth $n$-dimensional variety $X$ over a field, its canonical line bundle is ${\omega }_X={\bigwedge }^n{\Omega }_{X/k}^1$. It is the bundle of top-degree algebraic differential forms. A nonzero rational section defines a canonical divisor of a smooth variety. This algebraic definition works in arbitrary characteristic and is distinct from restricting the analytic canonical-bundle definition to complex manifolds.

A canonical divisor $K_X$ on a smooth integral variety is the Cartier divisor of a nonzero rational top-degree differential form; ${\mathcal{O}}_X(K_X)\cong {\omega }_X$. Its linear-equivalence class is independent of the chosen form. The plurigenus is the dimension of the space of sections of a positive tensor power of this bundle.

For a smooth projective variety, its $m$th plurigenus is $P_m(X)=h^0(X,{\omega }_X^{\otimes m})$, for $m\ge 1$. These dimensions describe pluricanonical linear systems. Blowup invariance of plurigenera proves their invariance under a point blowup on a smooth surface.

For a point blowup of a smooth algebraic surface $\psi :\tilde{X}\to X$, where $X$ is a smooth projective surface over an algebraically closed field, multiplication by the exceptional section to power $m$ identifies $H^0(\tilde{X},m{\psi }^{\ast }{K}_X)$ with $H^0(\tilde{X},m{K}_{\tilde{X}})$. Every effective pluricanonical representative must contain $mE$, since after subtracting $j<m$ copies its intersection with $E$ is $-m+j<0$. The projection formula for sheaves and ${\psi }_{\ast }\mathcal{O}=\mathcal{O}$ identify the remaining sections with those on $X$. No effectivity of $K_X$ itself is assumed.