On an irreducible variety, a Cartier divisor is a section of : its local rational equations differ by regular units. Their ratios define an invertible sheaf, and a global rational equation gives the trivial class. Conversely a rational trivialization of an invertible sheaf gives local equations. The rational-function sheaf is flasque, so its long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology also identifies the quotient with .
Normal variety 2026-10-06
An algebraic variety whose local rings are integrally closed domains. In particular an irreducible variety that is a normal variety has normal affine coordinate rings, enabling codimension-two extension of regular functions on a normal variety.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 16 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the Čech cochain complex has groupsTerms in cancel in pairs, and Čech cohomology is . A degree-zero cocycle is exactly a family of compatible local sections. The sheaf gluing axiom gives their unique global section, proving . If the cover has affine finite intersections, a quasi-coherent sheaf has no higher cohomology on those intersections by vanishing of quasi-coherent cohomology on an affine scheme. The acyclic cover theorem then identifies all Čech groups with sheaf cohomology. In particular, a finite affine open cover of a separated variety has this property.
For the sheaf of units of the structure sheaf, a multiplicative degree-one cocycle is a family satisfying , with . It glues trivial rank-one free modules into an invertible sheaf. Changing the local frames multiplies by a coboundary, and two sets of transition data give isomorphic line bundles precisely when their cocycles differ this way. Tensoring line bundles multiplies their cocycles. Thus line bundles trivialized by an open cover give the group isomorphismFor the remaining arguments, work over the algebraically closed ground field. On the irreducible variety , put , a quotient of sheaves of abelian groups. A global section of is locally represented by rational functions whose ratios are regular units. The corresponding unit cocycle defines an invertible sheaf. A single global rational function has trivial cocycle. Conversely, every line bundle has a nonzero rational section: choose a nonzero vector in its one-dimensional fibre at the generic point and express it in local frames. This supplies such local . If the associated line bundle is trivial, changing frames makes all restrictions of one rational function. Thereforeis exact. This is the Cartier-divisor description of the Picard group. The sheaf of nonzero rational functions on an irreducible variety is flasque, since all restrictions between nonempty open sets are the identity on . Apply the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology to . Since , its connecting map has exactly the cokernel just computed, provingFinally the Segre description of a smooth quadric surface identifies with . The two rulings of a smooth quadric surface have classes generating . For completeness, remove one line in each ruling: the remaining chart is the affine plane, with factorial coordinate ring and trivial divisor class group. The localization sequence for the divisor class group makes generators, and their degrees on the two ruling lines prove independence. The hyperplane class, and hence the conic , has bidegree . By Picard-group localization on a smooth variety, the Picard group of a smooth affine quadric surface isExplicitly, the restriction of is nontrivial: if it were trivial on , its rational trivialization would have divisor supported on , forcing to be an integer multiple of , which is impossible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 16 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
On an affine chart , the Module of Kähler differentials is generated by symbols subject to -linearity and . It represents -derivations. These modules commute with localization, so their associated quasi-coherent sheaves glue to the Kähler differential sheaf . It is coherent: if and , then it has the finite presentation of a moduleFor a closed point , put with maximal ideal and residue field . The Zariski tangent space is , equivalently . A derivation kills constants and , so it factors through ; conversely every linear functional on defines such a derivation by the product rule. The universal property of Kähler differentials therefore identifies this space withIn particular, , the algebraic cotangent space.
A point is a smooth point of a variety when its local ring is a regular local ring; over this algebraically closed field this says . Tensor the finite presentation of a module above with . The tangent space is the kernel of the Jacobian matrix , hence has dimension . This proves the Jacobian criterionFor a smooth irreducible variety , choose at each point an invertible -minor and shrink the affine chart so that it remains invertible. Its relations eliminate of the generators of , yielding a surjection . At the generic point, its target has dimension : over a perfect ground field, a separating transcendence basis of the function field has differentials forming a basis. Equivalently this follows from the assumed density of the smooth locus. The kernel therefore becomes zero over the fraction field of the integral domain . As a submodule of , it is a torsion-free module, so it is already zero. Thus these maps give local isomorphisms with , proving local freeness of differentials on a smooth variety with rank .
For an affine chart , write and . The restriction of a module sheaf to a closed subvariety is . The Conormal exact sequence for Kähler differentials isIt follows from the generators and relations: passing to imposes precisely the additional relations for . The first map is well defined because lies in . Glue these exact module sequences, using exactness of localization, to obtainIn the final assertion, interpret locally principal subvariety as a proper local hypersurface. Its ideal on each chart is with . Since is an irreducible variety and reduced, is a non-zero-divisor, and , , is an isomorphism. These local rank-one descriptions make the conormal sheaf invertible.
Because is not contained in the singular locus of , there is a dense open subset of where both and are smooth varieties. At a closed point there, by the Krull principal ideal theorem. The tangent description then forces . Hence the conormal map is injective at the generic point of . Its kernel is a subsheaf of a line bundle on the integral variety , so it is a torsion-free sheaf; a torsion-free sheaf with zero generic fibre is zero. This proves conormal injectivity for a generically smooth Cartier divisor. If zero equations were allowed in the phrase locally principal, would be a counterexample to invertibility; the proper-hypersurface convention is essential.
Smooth point of a variety 2026-10-06
Over a perfect field, a point of a variety is smooth when its local ring is a regular local ring. For an irreducible variety of dimension at a closed point, this is equivalent to its Zariski tangent space having dimension . The Jacobian criterion expresses the equality as a matrix-rank condition.