For a cohomological spectral sequence, and the next page is its cohomology. In the bounded setting, convergence of a spectral sequence to means that each has a finite decreasing, exhaustive and separated filtration with
Here is the eventual stable value. This determines the associated graded module of , rather than automatically a canonical direct-sum decomposition of . For unbounded filtrations additional completeness/convergence conditions are necessary; boundedness removes those issues here.
The bounded filtered-complex convergence theorem states the following. If is a decreasing filtration by cochain subcomplexes, preserved by the differential, finite in each cochain degree (uniform bounds , are sufficient), then there is a spectral sequence
The abutment filtration is . Its finite length ensures stabilization and the displayed limiting-page identification. The filtered cochain complex need not itself be bounded in cochain degree. In the degreewise finite version, the bounds in degrees suffice to stabilize the terms of total degree .
For a double cochain complex bounded in both indices, form the total cochain complex with anticommuting differentials and total differential . If the original differentials commute, inserting the usual sign in one of them gives this convention. Filtering by the first index gives and then . Filtering by the second index gives the spectral sequence taking horizontal cohomology first and vertical cohomology next. Both filtrations are finite, so both converge to . This is the two spectral sequences of a bounded double complex construction.
The printed left/left tensor expression needs a handedness repair. Over an arbitrary ring, a tensor product of modules over pairs a right module with a left module. To retain the order of the printed formula, take to be a bounded cochain complex of projective right -modules and a left -module. Alternatively, keep left, take right, and write and . For a commutative ring no repair is needed. We prove the first, correctly typed formulation.
Finite projective dimension gives a finite projective resolution by left modules. Form for . On take and . These anticommute, and the double cochain complex is bounded in both directions. Projective modules are flat modules, so taking vertical cohomology first gives
The first identification uses flatness of ; the second is the Tor functor computed by resolving its left-module argument . Balancedness of the Tor functor allows either correctly sided projective resolution to compute it, by the double-resolution argument.
Taking horizontal cohomology first instead uses flatness of . The resolution then leaves only in column . Its remaining differential is , so the augmentation is a quasi-isomorphism. Apply the convergence theorem to this underlying abelian-group double complex. The two spectral sequences therefore prove the Künneth spectral sequence:
These are abelian groups in general; an extra module structure requires appropriate bimodule hypotheses. The index is nonpositive, so is the nonnegative homological index of the Tor functor.
Finally write the cycle modules as and the boundary modules as . If every boundary module is projective, the short exact sequence splits. Thus is projective. The short exact sequence is now a length-one projective resolution, so for . The page occupies only columns . Every for goes columns to the right, hence has zero source or zero target. Therefore
This two-column degeneration of a Künneth spectral sequence gives the edge short exact sequences
Degeneration itself does not supply a canonical splitting. Projective boundaries also do not force to be projective: a complex with differential multiplication by over has projective boundary but a cohomology group.
A derivation of an algebra is a -linear map satisfying . The commutator is again a derivation: expanding cancels the two mixed terms and leaves . The commutator on endomorphisms is bilinear, antisymmetric, and satisfies the Jacobi identity by cancellation of its twelve triple-composition terms. Therefore is a Lie algebra.
In degree zero of the Hochschild cochain complex, , so for commutative . In degree one, is precisely the derivation rule; the boundaries are inner derivations, which vanish for commutative . Hence
For cochains , , the Hochschild cup product is
Define the insertion operation by
A degree-zero cochain is an element of , inserted with no arguments; for the sum is empty. For the Gerstenhaber bracket we use the left graded Leibniz rule convention, compatible with the unsigned Hochschild cup product just displayed:
Both degree-zero inputs have bracket zero. Another common insertion convention writes ; the two brackets differ by . With an unsigned Hochschild cup product, that convention uses the corresponding right graded Leibniz rule. The distinction matters for a degree-two cochain bracketed with a function. Either consistent convention gives the same degree-one Lie bracket and the same derivation action on functions.
If , this convention gives . The shifted Jacobi identity and therefore show that the Gerstenhaber bracket respects Hochschild cocycles and the images of the coboundary map. The Hochschild cup product and Gerstenhaber bracket induce operations on Hochschild cohomology. A Gerstenhaber algebra is a graded algebra with an associative degree-zero product with the graded commutative algebra rule , and a degree-minus-one graded Lie bracket making the shifted degrees into a graded Lie algebra. In particular,
for homogeneous elements of a graded algebra of degrees . The shifted Jacobi identity is
The Hochschild cup product does not make the cochains a graded commutative algebra in general, but does make their cohomology a graded commutative algebra; the insertion operation supplies the homotopy for this assertion and for the graded Leibniz rule. Thus these axioms describe the induced Gerstenhaber algebra, not a claim of a graded commutative algebra structure on the cochain multiplication itself.
For , the enveloping algebra is , and
is a projective resolution. The first map is injective since is an integral domain, and its cokernel is . Applying gives a zero coboundary map. Consequently
The Hochschild cup product is ordinary multiplication of functions and scalar multiplication of derivations, with the product of two derivations zero because . Every derivation is , since it is determined by its value on . The Gerstenhaber bracket is
with all other orders fixed by graded antisymmetry. These formulas fully determine the Gerstenhaber algebra.
For , the Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg theorem identifies
Thus the degrees zero, one, and two are , , and , and all higher groups vanish. The Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg map sends a wedge of derivations to the cochain
The factorial is invertible in characteristic zero. Equivalently, the groups follow from the Koszul resolution on the regular sequence in , whose dual coboundary maps vanish on .
The Hochschild cup product becomes the exterior product, and our Gerstenhaber bracket becomes the left Schouten-Nijenhuis bracket. It is determined by the commutator of derivations, , zero brackets of functions, and the displayed graded antisymmetry and left graded Leibniz rule. For explicit signs, put and . Then
The last bracket has degree three, whose exterior power is zero. For two derivations, the coefficient functions of their commutator give the remaining formula. This specifies the entire Gerstenhaber algebra; under the alternate insertion convention mentioned above, the first displayed bracket changes sign, together with the Leibniz convention. No smoothness of a general finitely generated commutative algebra was assumed: the Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg theorem is invoked here only for the smooth polynomial ring .
Let be a projective resolution of the trivial -module. The projective-resolution definition of group cohomology is
This is independent, up to a natural isomorphism, of the chosen projective resolution.
The degreewise natural isomorphisms
commute with the coboundary maps. Taking cohomology proves that group cohomology commutes with finite direct sums:
Now restrict from to a subgroup . The group ring is free as a -module, so restriction carries free modules to free modules and projective modules to projective modules. Thus the restricted complex is a projective resolution of the trivial -module. For the coinduced module , the Hom functor adjunction for a coinduced module gives an isomorphism of cochain complexes
Explicitly, a map is sent to ; the inverse sends a -linear map to . Taking cohomology proves Shapiro's lemma:
For the conjugation module of a group ring , the basis is the disjoint union of its conjugacy classes. Hence is the direct sum of the integral permutation modules on those classes. The class of a representative is the transitive -set , where is its centralizer. Since is finite, this permutation module is both induced and coinduced from the trivial -module . Applying group cohomology commutes with finite direct sums and Shapiro's lemma yields the group cohomology of a conjugation module:
The symmetric group has three conjugacy classes, represented by the identity, a transposition, and a three-cycle. Their centralizers are respectively
For any finite group acting trivially on ,
because a group homomorphism sends an element of finite order to an element of finite order, while the additive group of the integers contains no nonzero torsion elements. Therefore
The periodic resolution of a finite cyclic group alternates the maps and . After applying with the trivial action, these become alternately zero and multiplication by , proving
Combining this calculation with the supplied gives
Projective dimension Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For a nonzero module, the projective dimension is the shortest length of a projective resolution of the module , or infinity if no finite projective resolution exists. Equivalently, it is the supremum of degrees with nonzero as ranges over all modules. This equivalence follows by dimension shifting and the characterization of projective modules by vanishing .
Projective-resolution definition of group cohomology Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose a projective resolution of the trivial -module. For a -module , group cohomology is
Different projective resolutions give naturally isomorphic groups.
Right derived functor 2026-10-14
For an additive covariant left-exact functor on module categories, choose an injective resolution and set . For a contravariant functor, use a projective resolution instead, as in contravariant right derived functor. Resolution comparison and homotopies give independence and functoriality; short exact sequences give long exact derived-functor sequences. The zeroth functor is naturally .
Shapiro's lemma 2026-09-24
Shapiro's lemma gives a natural isomorphism
It follows by applying the Hom functor adjunction for a coinduced module to a projective resolution and observing that restriction from to preserves projective modules.
For a nonzero left finitely generated module over a left Noetherian ring, take a finite projective resolution with finite projective modules. Vanishing of its top Ext functor would make the dual of its final injection surjective. These duals are right finite projective modules, so the surjection splits. Dualizing back and using finite projective double dual modules splits the original injection and shortens the resolution, contradicting the definition of projective dimension. When the dimension is zero, a coordinate map of a finite free module containing the nonzero projective summand supplies a nonzero map to . The left/right distinction in the duals is essential for a noncommutative ring.