A propositional geometric theory has primitive propositions and sequents between formulas built with finite conjunction and arbitrary set-indexed disjunction. Start with the free frame on the primitives, identify conjunction with meet and disjunction with join, and impose each sequent as an inequality. The resulting quotient frame is . In the sheaf topos , interpret each primitive as the subterminal sheaf corresponding to its generating open. Operations on these subterminal sheaves are precisely the frame operations, so every imposed sequent is valid. This constructs the canonical model.
For a commutative ring , denote the generator attached to by . The presentation implies
The product equality uses the multiplication implication in one direction and both factor implications in the other; the latter follow by commuting . A ring homomorphism sends these relations to the corresponding ones in . It therefore gives a frame homomorphism and hence a map of locales.
If , then
so the two opens cover. Conversely let and pull back a putative cover along . Both generators become , so in . The allowed degeneracy criterion gives in , equivalently . Thus
This necessity argument never selects a prime ideal.
Finite intersections of the generating opens are again generators, so they form a basis. Assign to . The localization of a ring carries its ordinary addition and multiplication of fractions; equality of and means that some power of annihilates the cross-multiplied difference. On , restriction is further localization.
We also justify restriction for any inclusion of basic opens. Adding the condition to the presentation of gives the open and the presentation of : the generator for corresponds to . This is well-defined since equality of fractions, after multiplication by a power of the now-invertible , makes the two membership propositions equivalent. More explicitly, implies . If , this gives . If is killed by a power of , then (since ), and the additive inequalities for and give . A zero element in the localized ring has false membership, multiplication gives intersections, and the additive relation follows by clearing denominators. The reverse assignment on proves that these maps are inverse. Thus . If , then in this localized theory . Apply the quotient argument above, with the second generator , to conclude in . Therefore is invertible there, and the universal property of localization gives the restriction . These restrictions compose uniquely.
It remains to glue, and the allowed basis criterion reduces this to a whole-locale cover . Let and have equal restrictions to . Choose a common initial exponent , writing , . Equality on the overlap supplies with
Set , and . Then
with the last equality in itself. This clearing step is necessary when the commutative ring has zero divisors.
Since , also . Choose . For , expand ; each term contains either or , producing with . For choose . Define
In ,
and similarly in ,
Thus glues the matching pair. If is another gluing, some and annihilate . The same binomial argument gives , so . This proves uniqueness without cancellation or a domain assumption.
The exactness of the unit-ideal localization Čech complex proves the sheaf axiom for the required basic covers, and hence the assignment with its restrictions defines a sheaf of rings with . On the empty basic open, localization is the zero ring, whose underlying set has one section, as required. The construction and proof remain valid for the zero ring.
Work on an affine open subset and write and using part (ii). We first show that any section lifts to .
A surjection of sheaves supplies local lifts on a finite cover by principal open subsets . Their differences
satisfy on triple intersections. We spell out why this Čech cocycle is a coboundary. Choose a common sufficiently large power so that can be represented in for every pair. Increasing also kills the finitely many localization errors in the cocycle identities: after extending to and to , their difference in is . This follows because any error which vanishes after localizing at is killed by a power of ; there are only finitely many indices.
The still cover , so the ideal generated by the is . Choose with and put
using the extended representatives just chosen. On an overlap, the cocycle identity gives
Thus agree and glue to a lift of . This is the degree-one argument behind the exactness of the unit-ideal localization Čech complex.
The same reasoning applies to every . Hence we have short exact sequences of modules of sections on and on . Localize the first sequence at and compare them. The maps on the outer modules are the isomorphisms from part (ii):
An elementary diagram chase makes the middle map an isomorphism: subtract a lift from the right to reduce surjectivity to the left, and use injectivity on the left to prove injectivity. These isomorphisms identify with the quasi-coherent sheaf associated with . Doing this on every affine open subset proves
The proof even works without the Noetherian assumption.
A sheaf of modules over is quasi-coherent when locally it admits a presentation
with arbitrary indexing sets . On an affine chart, sheafifying the corresponding module presentation and using exactness of localization identifies its cokernel with a sheaf . Thus one may equivalently require that locally on affine charts is associated with a module. This does not impose finite generation, which belongs to the stronger coherent condition.
On the affine variety with coordinate ring , put . Refine local module charts to a finite principal open cover such that for an -module . This is possible because principal opens form an open basis and is quasi-compact. On the overlap the sections are the corresponding further localization of or . The sheaf gluing axiom gives an equalizer
where the last map is the difference of restrictions. For any , localize this sequence. Exactness of localization and commutation with finite products give exactly the equalizer for the cover . Hence
The isomorphisms are canonical and commute with all basic-open restrictions. Since the sections of on these opens are , they identify the two sheaves:
Conversely is quasi-coherent for every -module , since a free presentation of gives the required sheaf presentation. Also , and module homomorphisms sheafify, while a sheaf morphism is determined on every by the localization of its map on global sections. This proves the affine module-sheaf equivalence.
For a short exact sequence of quasi-coherent sheaves, the sequence of their stalks is exact. Under this equivalence the stalk at is the localization of the global-section module at . Exactness of module sequences can be checked at all maximal ideals, by localization detects zero elements applied to their homology, so the global-section modules also form a short exact sequence. Therefore global sections are exact on quasi-coherent sheaves over an affine variety. This is stronger than the left exactness of the global section functor on arbitrary sheaves, and follows from localization, not from assuming the cohomology vanishing still to be proved.
For an open inclusion , the requested sheaf is
Restriction gives . This direct image from an open restriction is not extension by zero: its stalks outside may be nonzero.
The locally vanishing principle for sheaf cohomology says that a class , , is killed on a suitable neighbourhood of every point. Under the stated hypothesis that basis opens and their finite intersections have zero cohomology in degrees , these neighbourhoods can be chosen in that basis so that the image of under
is zero. In particular its restriction in is zero. This is a statement about individual classes; it does not assert that every locally vanishing class is already globally zero.
Here is a noncircular proof of vanishing of quasi-coherent cohomology on an affine scheme, applied to the variety. Induct on , simultaneously for every affine variety and quasi-coherent sheaf. Assume all lower positive degrees vanish. The principal-open basis is closed under finite intersections, so it satisfies the principle's hypothesis. Given , choose a finite principal cover on which it restricts to zero.
Applying the Čech cochain complex to a flasque resolution gives the Čech lifting below the first possible local cohomology degree comparison segment, under lower-degree vanishing on all intersections
For completeness, the double complex has terms . Its augmented rows are exact because each is flasque, so its total cohomology is the cohomology of global sections of the resolution. The vertical cohomology on intersections in degrees is zero. Equivalently, start with local primitives of a cocycle representing , take their differences on pairwise overlaps, and solve successively for primitives of those differences in degrees . The last difference is a Čech -cocycle with values in . This identifies the kernel of the restriction map with the displayed Čech group. No vanishing in degree on the intersections has been assumed.
It remains a module calculation. Write . The augmented Čech complex is
Since the cover , the generate the unit ideal. This complex is exact. To see it algebraically, use alternating cochains, with repeated indices giving zero. For a cocycle , choose large enough to clear every -denominator in , as well as the finitely many cocycle relations; vanishing criterion in a module localization allows a further power to clear relations which initially hold only after localization. Since the ideal is still the unit ideal, choose with . Define
using those cleared representatives in . The cocycle identity gives . The same argument with the augmentation gives gluing and uniqueness in degree zero. This is exactness of the unit-ideal localization Čech complex.
Thus , so the class , whose restrictions were zero, is zero. The induction starts at , when the lower-degree condition is empty. We have proved