Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / iii / Paper 17 / 2

Form the presheaf whose value on $U\subseteq X$ iswith restrictions induced from those of the two sheaves of modules and the structure sheaf. Its sheafification is the tensor product of sheaves $\mathcal{G}{\otimes }_{{\mathcal{O}}_X}\mathcal{H}$. Sheafification is needed because taking a tensor product on each open set need not itself satisfy the gluing axiom. The resulting sheaf represents bilinear sheaf morphisms, and localization gives the stalk formulaIndeed, sheafification preserves stalks, and filtered direct limits commute with the module tensor product.

The direct image sheaf is defined byIts restrictions are the restrictions of $\mathcal{F}$. Inverse images preserve covers and intersections, so the sheaf gluing axiom holds immediately. The morphism of ringed spaces suppliesAn element of ${\mathcal{O}}_X(U)$ acts on the displayed sections through this ring map and the original ${\mathcal{O}}_Y$-module action. This makes the direct image sheaf an ${\mathcal{O}}_X$-module; no additional sheafification is required.

First form the inverse image sheaf ${\varphi }^{-1}\mathcal{H}$ by sheafifying the presheafwhere $U$ runs through open subsets of $X$. It is naturally a module over ${\varphi }^{-1}{\mathcal{O}}_X$, not yet over ${\mathcal{O}}_Y$. The structure morphism ${\varphi }^{-1}{\mathcal{O}}_X\to {\mathcal{O}}_Y$ allows extension of scalars, giving the pullback of a sheaf of modules:The tensor product of sheaves includes its own sheafification. At $Q\in Y$ the construction becomesThis adjustment of the coefficient ring distinguishes the pullback from the underlying inverse image sheaf.

The affine module sheaf construction makes the remaining statements explicit. For $A=k[V]$ and an $A$-module $M$, defineon the basis of principal open subsets. Restrictions are the natural localization maps. Equivalently, a section on an arbitrary open set is a family $s_P\in M_{{\mathfrak{m}}_P}$ which near each point is represented by a single fraction $m/f^r$, with $f$ nonvanishing throughout that neighbourhood. This locally representable family construction gives a sheaf; the usual localization gluing verifies its quasi-coherence. Its stalk is $M_{{\mathfrak{m}}_P}$ andThis last identification is precisely the standard module-localization gluing on the affine basis, not an assertion that arbitrary sheaves are determined by their global sections.

Now write $A=k[X]$, $B=k[Y]$ and $\alpha ={\varphi }^{\#}:A\to B$. Let $\mathcal{G}=\tilde{M}$, $\mathcal{H}=\tilde{N}$ for $A$-modules $M,N$, and let $\mathcal{F}=\tilde{L}$ for a $B$-module $L$. The affine versions of the three constructions areHere ${}_{A}L$ denotes restriction of scalars along $\alpha$, whereas the last associated sheaf lives on $Y$. To verify the tensor-product assertion, localize at every prime: both stalks are $M_{\mathfrak{m}}{\otimes }_{A_{\mathfrak{m}}}{N}_{\mathfrak{m}}$. For the direct image, ${\varphi }^{-1}D(a)=D(\alpha (a))$, andThese equalities identify the sheaves on a basis and respect restrictions. For the pullback of a sheaf of modules, its stalk at $Q$ is $B_{{\mathfrak{m}}_Q}{\otimes }_{A}N$, exactly the stalk of $\widetilde{B{\otimes }_{A}N}$. The local tensor maps are compatible, so these stalk identifications come from an actual sheaf isomorphism. Thus all three constructions are quasi-coherent in the stated affine setting.

Finally construct the natural projection formula for sheaves map by sending a local tensor $m\otimes b$ to $b(1\otimes m)$ in the pulled-back module, followed by direct image. In the affine description, the target ${\varphi }_{\ast }{\varphi }^{\ast }\tilde{M}$ is the sheaf associated with the $A$-module ${}_A(B{\otimes }_{A}M)$, while $\tilde{M}{\otimes }_{{\mathcal{O}}_X}{\varphi }_{\ast }{\mathcal{O}}_Y$ corresponds to $M{\otimes }_{A}B$. The mapsare inverse $A$-linear maps. Localizing them commutes with every restriction, provingNo flatness assumption on $A\to B$ or finiteness assumption on $M$ is needed.