Čech cochain complex (${\check{C}}^{\bullet }(\mathcal{U},\mathcal{F})$)

The Čech cochain complex places sections on $(p+1)$-fold intersections in degree $p$ and uses the alternating sum of restriction maps as its differential.

The Čech differential sends a cochain on $(p+1)$-fold intersections to the alternating sum of its restrictions to $(p+2)$-fold intersections. Each pair of omitted indices occurs twice with opposite signs in the composite, so ${\delta }^2=0$. It defines the Čech cohomology of the cover.

For a finite affine cover of a semi-separated scheme, every finite intersection is affine. The augmented sheaf Čech cochain complex is exact: near each point, an open of the cover contains the neighbourhood under consideration, and inserting its index contracts the complex. Its terms are acyclic for a quasi-coherent sheaf, by affine cohomology vanishing and the affine-intersection property. Alternatively, apply the section-level Čech cochain complex to a flasque resolution; the two computations of the resulting double complex identify Čech cohomology with sheaf cohomology. Stalks of direct images from opens outside those opens need not vanish, so exactness must not be justified by treating these direct images as extensions by zero.

For a finite family generating the unit ideal in a commutative ring, this augmented Čech cochain complex of any module is exact. One proof clears the finitely many denominators and cocycle relations by powers $f_i^N$, writes $1={\sum }_i{a}_i{f}_i^N$, and contracts an alternating cocycle by the weighted insertions ${\sum }_i{a}_i{f}_i^N{c}_{iI}$. The argument uses vanishing criterion in a module localization and does not require the module to be finitely generated.

The degree-$p$ Čech cochain group for an ordered cover is ${\prod }_{i_0<\cdots <i_p}\mathcal{F}(U_{i_0}\cap \cdots \cap U_{i_p})$.

A Čech cochain is a cocycle when its alternating coboundary vanishes. For a multiplicative one-cochain $(g_{ij})$, this says $g_{ij}{g}_{jk}=g_{ik}$ on triple intersections.

A Čech coboundary is the image of a cochain in the preceding degree. Multiplicatively, a zero-cochain $(h_i)$ changes a one-cocycle by $g_{ij}\mapsto h_i^{-1}{g}_{ij}{h}_j$.