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From a short exact sequence of sheaves $0\to K_{j+1}\to G_j\to K_j\to 0$, the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology gives the displayed isomorphism whenever $H^q(X,G_j)=H^{q+1}(X,G_j)=0$. Repeating it along a locally free resolution shifts a fixed group to successively higher degrees. If all relevant kernel sheaves are quasi-coherent sheaves and there is a uniform vanishing bound for their sheaf cohomology, sufficiently many shifts force the original group to vanish. The cohomological dimension bound from an affine cover supplies such a bound for a closed subscheme of projective space.

On an affine scheme, a morphism between quasi-coherent sheaves is determined by the induced map on global sections, because its maps on principal open subsets are their localizations. Exactness of localization gives the displayed identity. Thus the kernel sheaf of a morphism between quasi-coherent sheaves is quasi-coherent on an arbitrary scheme, by applying the affine argument locally. No finite generation is needed.

A locally free resolution of a sheaf of modules $F$ is an exact sequence $\cdots \to G_2\to G_1\to G_0\to F\to 0$ with each $G_i$ a locally free sheaf. If every coherent sheaf is the quotient of a locally free sheaf of finite rank on a noetherian scheme, iteratively taking a kernel sheaf constructs such a resolution with coherent sheaves at every stage. The kernel sheaves need not be locally free sheaves, so a finite resolution requires additional hypotheses. A uniform bound on sheaf cohomology can nevertheless make a finite initial segment sufficient for dimension shifting in sheaf cohomology.

Fix a coherent sheaf $F$ and an integer $k>M$. Set $K_0=F$. Repeatedly apply a to construct short exact sequences of sheaveswhere each $G_j$ is a coherent sheaf and a locally free sheaf. Each kernel sheaf $K_{j+1}$ is a coherent sheaf because $X$ is a noetherian scheme. Thus the construction can be repeated as many times as needed; it does not require the kernel sheaves themselves to be locally free sheaves.

For every integer $q>M$, the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology containsBoth outer groups vanish by the hypothesis, since $q$ and $q+1$ exceed $M$. Hence ${\delta }_j$ is an isomorphism. Iterating this dimension shifting in sheaf cohomology gives

Choose $s\ge 0$ with $k+s>N$, where $N$ is the uniform bound from b. The coherent sheaf $K_s$ is a quasi-coherent sheaf, so b makes the last group zero. ThereforeThe argument uses a finite initial segment of a locally free resolution. There is no need to assume that every coherent sheaf has a finite locally free resolution: the uniform bound from b is what terminates the argument.

A quasi-coherent sheaf is a sheaf of modules which locally has a presentation by free module sheaves:where the index sets may be infinite. Equivalently, on affine neighbourhoods it is an affine module sheaf. A coherent sheaf is locally finitely generated, with the additional requirement that the kernel of every map from a finite free module sheaf is locally finitely generated. On a Noetherian scheme, these conditions are equivalent to being locally associated with a finitely generated module.

For an affine variety $X$ with coordinate ring $A$ and an $A$-module $M$, setRestriction on principal open subsets is the natural module localization map. On an arbitrary open subset, sections are families of these stalk values locally represented by a single fraction from a localization. This constructs the affine module sheaf; its global sections are $M$. Choose a free-module presentation $A^{(J)}\to A^{(I)}\to M\to 0$. Exactness of localization and its compatibility with direct sums yieldThus $\tilde{M}$ is a quasi-coherent sheaf, without a finite-generation assumption.

We now prove coherence of an affine module sheaf. If $M$ is finitely generated, take a surjection $A^r\to M$. Since $A$ is a Noetherian ring, its kernel is finitely generated, so $M$ has a finite presentation of a module. More generally, on every principal affine open, the kernel of a map $A_a^s\to M_a$ is a submodule of a finite free module over the Noetherian ring $A_a$, and is finitely generated. On sheafifying, this verifies both parts of the definition of a coherent sheaf.

Conversely, if $\tilde{M}$ is coherent, choose a finite principal-open cover $X={\bigcup }_{i}D(a_i)$ on which it has finitely many generators. Write those local generators as $m_{ij}/a_i^{r_{ij}}$. Their numerators generate a finite submodule $N={\sum }_{i,j}A{m}_{ij}$ of $M$, and $N_{a_i}=M_{a_i}$ for every $i$. To check that $M/N=0$, let $q\in M/N$. Each equality after localization gives an exponent $r_i$ such that $a_i^{r_i}q=0$. The ideal generated by the $a_i^{r_i}$ is the unit ideal: otherwise a maximal ideal containing all of them would give a point outside the principal-open cover. A linear combination of these powers equal to $1$ consequently annihilates $q$. Every $q$ is zero, proving

Next consider a morphism $\varphi :{\mathcal{G}}_1\to {\mathcal{G}}_2$ between quasi-coherent sheaves. On an affine open $V$ of the target variety, use the assumed affine module-sheaf equivalence to write ${\mathcal{G}}_j{|}_V=\widetilde{M_j}$, with $M_j=\Gamma (V,{\mathcal{G}}_j)$. The sheaf morphism is the sheafification of the module map $\psi =\Gamma (V,\varphi )$. Indeed, its action on a section $m/a^r$ of a principal open is forced by module-linearity and restriction to be $\psi (m)/a^r$. Therefore exactness of localization givesThese identities are compatible with restriction, so $(\ker \varphi ){|}_V=\widetilde{\ker \psi }$. Since this holds on an affine cover, the kernel sheaf is quasi-coherent on every variety. This proof of kernels of quasi-coherent sheaf morphisms does not assert that taking global sections is right exact.

For direct image along a morphism of affine varieties, write $Y$ with coordinate ring $A$, $X$ with coordinate ring $B$, and let $\alpha :A\to B$ be the induced ring homomorphism. If $\mathcal{F}=\tilde{M}$ on $X$, regard $M$ as an $A$-module by restriction of scalars. For $a\in A$,The last equality identifies localization with the scalar action of $a$. It identifies the direct image sheaf with the affine module sheaf of the restricted module, so $f_{\ast }\mathcal{F}$ is quasi-coherent.

Suppose $Y$ is affine and $X={\bigcup }_{i=1}^r{U}_i$ is a finite affine cover. Since a variety is separated, every $U_i\cap U_j$ is affine: it is identified with the inverse image of the closed diagonal morphism inside the affine product $U_i{\times }_k{U}_j$. Write $g_i=f{|}_{U_i}$ and $g_{ij}=f{|}_{U_i\cap U_j}$. Form the morphism of sheaves of modulesBoth sums are finite, and every summand is quasi-coherent by the affine calculation. For every open $V\subseteq Y$, the sheaf gluing axiom on $f^{-1}(V)$ identifies the kernel of this map on sections with $\mathcal{F}(f^{-1}(V))$. HenceThe kernel result proved above establishes quasi-coherence.

Finally, for arbitrary $Y$, take an affine neighbourhood $V\subseteq Y$ and apply the preceding argument to $f^{-1}(V)\to V$. The open subset $f^{-1}(V)$ is again a variety and has a finite affine cover, because varieties have Noetherian Zariski topology. The restriction of $f_{\ast }\mathcal{F}$ to $V$ is exactly the direct image for this restricted morphism. ThusThe finiteness and separation conditions are the relevant hypotheses, not affineness of the original source or target. More generally, quasi-coherence of direct image under a quasi-compact quasi-separated morphism is valid. If one permits nonseparated finite-type prevarieties, each overlap in the argument has a finite affine cover; replacing its summand by the sum of direct images from these charts gives the same kernel, since agreement can be tested on a cover. This also proves the assertion in that convention. It does not extend by this argument to arbitrary spaces with an unrestricted infinite cover.

On the principal open subscheme $D(a)\subseteq \mathrm{Spec}A$, the induced morphism of sheaves is the ring homomorphismIf $\alpha$ is injective, this map is injective by exactness of localization: it is the localization of the injective $A$-module map $A\to B$. Explicitly, if the displayed fraction vanishes, some power of $\alpha (a)$ annihilates $\alpha (b)$; injectivity gives $a^{m}b=0$, so the original fraction also vanishes. The principal opens form an open basis, so the kernel sheaf is zero on a basis and hence zero everywhere. Conversely, an injective morphism of sheaves induces an injection on global sections. On the whole affine scheme these sections are $A\to B$, exactly $\alpha$. Thus