Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / iii / Paper 114 / 2

Repeated Smith normal form puts a chain complex of finitely generated free abelian groups into its elementary decomposition of a finite free chain complex: one-term summands $\mathbb{Z}$ and two-term summands $0\to \mathbb{Z}\stackrel{m}{\to }\mathbb{Z}\to 0$. Applying ${\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathbb{Z}}(-,\mathbb{Z})$ reverses a two-term summand but keeps the same multiplication by $m$. Reading its homology gives the universal coefficient theorem for cohomologysplit noncanonically. Thus if $H_n(C)\cong {\mathbb{Z}}^{b_n}\oplus T_n$ with $T_n$ finite, then

The universal coefficient theorem for homology with ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ coefficients givesIf the middle group vanishes for every prime $p$, so does the tensor term. Any nonzero free summand survives for every $p$, and any nonzero finite summand survives for a prime dividing its order. Since integral homology is finitely generated, it must vanish in every degree. This is detection of integral acyclicity modulo primes.

For the displayed complex, writeUsing $f_{\#}{d}_C=d_D{f}_{\#}$, one obtainsThus $M$ is the mapping cone of $f_{\#}$ in this sign convention. Its long exact sequence in homology shows that $f_{\ast }$ is an isomorphism exactly when $H_{\ast }(M)=0$. If $f_{\ast }$ is an isomorphism with ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ coefficients for every prime, then $M\otimes {\mathbb{F}}_p$ is acyclic for every $p$. Prime-field detection makes $M$ integrally acyclic, so the integral long exact sequence gives