Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 18 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a group homomorphism , the dual morphism is pullback of algebraically trivial line bundles. Translations satisfy , and thereforeAlso and . Dualizing is additive: , since algebraically trivial line bundles obey the Theorem of the square. Apply these identities to the three factors defining . The two diagonal terms cancel in the expansionHence .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 18 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The defining section of is nowhere zero on , so its restriction is trivial and has degree zero. Every translated line bundle also has degree zero on , by the preceding part. For any , either or the defining section of restricts to a nonzero section on . In the second case its zero effective divisor has degree zero, so it has no zeros. Thus a translate of either contains all of or misses all of .
Take and . The translate contains , hence all of . In particular . This proves ; exchanging proves the reverse inclusion. Since the prime Weil divisor is reduced and translation is an automorphism, equality of these sets gives equality of Weil divisors. Remembering that pullback by translates the divisor by , the answer is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 18 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Pull back by the morphism of varietiesThe fiber of this line bundle over is . An abelian variety is connected, so the preceding constancy of line bundle degree in a family applies. Consequently for every .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 18 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a line bundle on , put , and choose an ample line bundle on . Fix . For sufficiently large , both and vanish, by Serre duality and negativity of the degrees of their dual canonical twists. The semicontinuity theorem for coherent cohomology makes both groups vanish on a neighborhood of . The family is flat over : is flat and the sheaves in question are locally free.
On that neighborhood the Riemann-Roch theorem givesUpper semicontinuity of both zeroth sheaf cohomology dimensions, after shrinking again, gives and . Hence . The degree is locally constant, and thus constant on connected . With the usual convention that a variety is irreducible, this proves the assertion as printed. If disconnected varieties are allowed, the necessary qualification is constancy on each connected component: take to be two points and the bundles and to see that a global constant degree need not exist.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 18 4 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For the curve generation criterion for an abelian variety, first suppose and an irreducible Weil divisor avoids . The preceding part gives , so and . A nonzero effective divisor cannot have this property: if is an ample line bundle and , then the intersection product of Cartier divisors is positive, whereas an algebraically trivial line bundle has zero intersection with every curve. The latter follows from constancy of degree along a connected family defining algebraic equivalence; the former is the positive projective degree of after replacing by a very ample power. This contradiction proves that meets every irreducible Weil divisor.
Conversely suppose . Fix , so . Use the permitted fiber theorem to choose a morphism of varieties with . This morphism is nonconstant because is proper. Choose an affine neighborhood of . The irreducible image has positive dimension, so its intersection with does too; some regular function on is nonconstant on this intersection. Then is a nonconstant rational function on , regular on .
The pole divisor avoiding a fiber construction applies: its pole Weil divisor is nonzero. Indeed on the smooth, hence normal, projective variety , a rational function with no codimension-one poles extends to a global regular function; every global regular function on a connected projective variety is constant. Every pole component lies outside and hence avoids . Therefore is an irreducible Weil divisor disjoint from , and in particular from . This proves the converse using precisely the fiber fact allowed in the question, without requiring a projective target . The criterion is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 22 2 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A connection on a vector bundle is a -linear map satisfying for smooth functions. Its extension is the covariant exterior derivativeSquaring gives a -linear operator , defining the vector-bundle curvature .
For a line bundle, is canonically the trivial line bundle, so this vector-bundle curvature is an ordinary global complex two-form. In a local frame with , the scalar identity gives . Therefore . The calculations in the two subparts also explain the gluing directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 22 2 Solution 2026-10-07
The smooth exponential sequence isLocal logarithms make it exact as a sequence of sheaves. A line bundle has a transition class in ; its image under the connecting map defines the First Chern class. For a holomorphic line bundle the holomorphic exponential sequence gives the same class by naturality.
Here is the explicit Čech-de Rham curvature descent. On a good cover, write and choose logarithms . The integer cocyclerepresents . By the proved frame formula,Put and . Then and . In the Čech-de Rham double complex, with total differential on Čech degree ,Thus the global closed differential form and the integer cocycle represent the same class under de Rham theorem:This proves integrality, including the sign and normalization. It identifies the image of the integral class; vector-bundle curvature alone cannot recover torsion classes lost in passage to complex coefficients.
Two connections on the same line bundle differ by a global scalar one-form . Their vector-bundle curvatures satisfy , so the normalized representatives differ by an exact differential form. Hence the class is independent of the connection.
Use the integral normalization of the Fubini-Study form. On the chart , define the integrally normalized Fubini-Study form byThe potentials on overlaps differ by the logarithm of the squared modulus of a nowhere-zero holomorphic function, whose is zero. Thus the forms patch and are closed. The dual of the tautological metric on has local squared norm . Its Chern connection has and vector-bundle curvature . Therefore , proving the requested integrality. With the unnormalized convention , this is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 17 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A rank- holomorphic vector bundle is a complex manifold with a holomorphic projection to and local holomorphic trivializations that are complex-linear on each fibre. Its transition maps have the form with holomorphic satisfying the cocycle identities.
The holomorphic Picard group consists of isomorphism classes of holomorphic line bundles, with tensor product as multiplication, the trivial line bundle as identity and the dual bundle as inverse. The classification on the complex projective line givesThe inverse is degree; is the positive generator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 22 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let denote the Frobenius isogeny of an elliptic curve and write . Its degree of an isogeny is . The isogeny of elliptic curves has differential equal to the identity because , so it is a separable isogeny. Its kernel consists precisely of the rational points fixed by , giving
We use the degree parallelogram law for isogenies of elliptic curves, with degree zero assigned to the zero map:One explanation of the first identity is the divisor proof of the degree parallelogram law: on , the zero divisor of is the sum of the diagonal and the graph of negation, while its pole divisor is twice each coordinate copy of . Pulling the associated line bundle identity back by and taking degrees gives the identity, including exceptional cases by the line-bundle formulation. This works for a general Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve, including characteristic two; is the quotient coordinate for negation. Polarization therefore makes degree a quadratic form on the endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve.
Set , the Trace of Frobenius. The cross term is determined by , giving, for all integers ,If , the real degree-two polynomial is negative on a nonempty open interval. That interval contains a rational , contradicting the displayed nonnegativity after multiplication by . Thus . Hasse's bounds areThe argument proves the Hasse theorem for elliptic curves without assuming its bound in advance.
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 2026-10-14
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 20 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a smooth projective curve of geometric genus and a divisor on an algebraic curve , write and let be a canonical divisor. The curve form of the Riemann-Roch theorem isHere and . In line bundle form,The usual curve convention is a smooth geometrically integral projective curve; geometric embedding tests may be checked after extending the ground field to an algebraic closure.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 20 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A line bundle is a globally generated line bundle when the evaluation mapis surjective. Equivalently, its global sections span each fibre of the line bundle; locally at every point, some section is a generator.
Choose a finite generating family . On the open set where generates , the ratios are regular functions, giving a morphism of schemes into the standard chart of projective space. The ratios obey the usual transition rules on overlaps, so these chart maps glue toThe tuple is computed using any local trivialization of ; changing that trivialization multiplies all entries by the same invertible function. The construction has and pulls back the coordinate sections to the chosen .
There is a finiteness qualification for an arbitrary : global generation alone need not provide such a finite family. It does if is quasi-compact, since the open sets on which individual sections generate have a finite subcover. Without that hypothesis, take and let restrict to on each component. This line bundle is globally generated, but any global sections have a common zero on a component with . Thus this is a globally generated line bundle without finite generators. This is finite global generation on a quasi-compact scheme. The finite-family construction is automatic in the projective case asked next.
For projective nonsingular , put . The length-two criterion for a very ample linear system says that is a closed immersion precisely when, after extending to an algebraic closure, separates distinct points and tangent directions. Equivalently, the evaluationis surjective for every length-two geometric closed subscheme . Two distinct points give point separation; a nonreduced length-two subscheme supported at one point gives separation of a direction in the Zariski tangent space. For the complete space , this says exactly that is a very ample line bundle. For a chosen smaller , it is the chosen linear system of divisors which must be a very ample linear system; mere global generation is insufficient.