Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 20 / 1 / b

The affine-target adjunction for schemes gives the natural bijectionA morphism of schemes $f$ gives the homomorphism on global sections induced by $f^{\#}$, using $\Gamma (\mathrm{Spec}A,\mathcal{O})=A$.

Conversely, let $\alpha :A\to \Gamma (X,{\mathcal{O}}_X)$ be a ring homomorphism. Choose an affine open subscheme cover $U_i=\mathrm{Spec}{B}_i$ of $X$. Restriction of global sections gives homomorphisms $A\to B_i$, hence morphisms of schemes $f_i:U_i\to \mathrm{Spec}A$. On any affine open subscheme $W\subseteq U_i\cap U_j$, both restrictions correspond to the same homomorphism $A\to \Gamma (W,{\mathcal{O}}_W)$. They therefore agree on $W$. Such affine opens cover the overlap, so the $f_i$ glue uniquely to a morphism of schemes $f:X\to \mathrm{Spec}A$.

The two constructions are inverse: the first recovers $\alpha$ on each $U_i$, hence on all of $X$, and the second recovers every restriction $f{|}_{U_i}$ of a given $f$. This proof needs neither affineness nor quasi-compactness of $X$.