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First consider the preliminary cohomological facts. The exam's term flabby means flasque sheaf: every restriction map is surjective. For open sets $V\subseteq U$, lift a section of ${\mathcal{F}}_3(V)$ to ${\mathcal{F}}_2(V)$ using the given surjectivity when ${\mathcal{F}}_1$ is flasque. Extend that lift to $U$ using the flasque sheaf ${\mathcal{F}}_2$, then project to ${\mathcal{F}}_3(U)$. This proves that ${\mathcal{F}}_3$ is a flasque sheaf.

One construction of a flasque resolution starts with the sheaf ${\mathcal{C}}^0(\mathcal{F})(U)={\prod }_{P\in U}{\mathcal{F}}_P$, with pointwise restriction. It is a sheaf of abelian groups with surjective restrictions, and sending a section to all its germs embeds $\mathcal{F}$ in it. Repeating on the cokernels constructs an exact sequencewith each ${\mathcal{I}}^j$ flasque. Define sheaf cohomology by the cohomology of the cochain complex of global sections of such a resolution; the groups are independent of the chosen flasque resolution. If $\mathcal{F}$ is itself flasque, the quotient result just proved makes every successive cokernel flasque. Applying the assumed surjectivity of sections to each successive short exact sequence of sheaves proves exactness of the global-section complex in positive degrees. Thus $H^i(X,\mathcal{F})=0$ for $i>0$.

Now let $K=k(X)$ be the function field of the smooth algebraic curve. Its divisor class group isHere ${\nu }_P$ is the discrete valuation of the discrete valuation ring ${\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$, and $\mathrm{Prin}(X)$ consists of the principal divisor elements $\mathrm{div}(f)$. These sums have finite support: on a finite affine cover, represent $f$ as a fraction of regular functions; each nonzero numerator or denominator has only finitely many zeros on a curve, since a proper closed subset of a Noetherian one-dimensional irreducible space is finite.

For a divisor on an algebraic curve $D={\sum }_P{n}_{P}P$, define the line bundle associated to a divisor byIn this expression the valuation condition applies to nonzero $f$. If $t_P$ is a uniformizer, the stalk is $t_P^{-n_P}{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$. Shrinking around $P$ removes all other zeros and poles of $t_P$ and all other points in the support of $D$, so this also gives an actual local generator. Thus ${\mathcal{O}}_X(D)$ is a locally free sheaf of rank one. Multiplication gives an isomorphismon every stalk. If $D=\mathrm{div}(g)$, then ${\mathcal{O}}_X(D)=g^{-1}{\mathcal{O}}_X$, so the construction factors through a homomorphism $\mathrm{Cl}(X)\to \mathrm{Pic}(X)$.

It is injective: if ${\mathcal{O}}_X(D)$ is trivial, an isomorphism from ${\mathcal{O}}_X$ supplies a nonzero global rational generator $h$. At each closed point, $h$ generates $t_P^{-n_P}{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$, giving ${\nu }_P(h)=-n_P$, hence $D=-\mathrm{div}(h)$.

It is surjective: take a line bundle $\mathcal{L}$ and a nonzero rational section $s$, obtained by choosing a frame on any nonempty trivializing open set. If $e_i$ is a local frame, write $s=f_i{e}_i$ with $f_i\in K^{\ast }$. Since changes of frame are units, ${\nu }_P(f_i)$ is independent of the frame near $P$. A finite trivializing cover shows that these numbers have finite support. Set $D={\sum }_P{\nu }_P(f_i)P$. The map $f\mapsto fs$ gives ${\mathcal{O}}_X(D)\cong \mathcal{L}$, because at $P$ the condition ${\nu }_P(f)+{\nu }_P(f_i)\ge 0$ is exactly regularity of $fs$. Replacing $s$ by $gs$ changes $D$ by $\mathrm{div}(g)$, so this construction is well defined on classes. This proves the divisor class group and Picard group of a smooth curve identification

Choose a flasque resolution of the sheaf of abelian groups $\mathcal{F}$,A flasque sheaf has surjective restriction maps; such resolutions exist for every sheaf of abelian groups. Apply the global section functor to obtain a cochain complex. The sheaf cohomology groups areFor $i=0$, the denominator is zero and $H^0(X,\mathcal{F})=\Gamma (X,\mathcal{F})$. Different resolutions give canonically isomorphic groups; the resolution principle for sheaf cohomology is what permits other acyclic resolutions to compute these same groups.

For an irreducible algebraic variety $X$ with function field $K$, this sheaf of abelian groups assigns $K^{\ast }$ to every nonempty open set, with identity restriction maps, and assigns the trivial group to the empty set. Irreducibility ensures that any two nonempty open subsets meet, so these sections satisfy the sheaf gluing axiom. It is a flasque sheaf and has zero higher sheaf cohomology.

The units in the structure sheaf of a scheme form a multiplicative sheaf of abelian groups. On a smooth algebraic curve, a nonzero rational function is a unit at a point precisely when its discrete valuation there is zero. Its inclusion in the sheaf of nonzero rational functions on an irreducible variety relates divisor on an algebraic curve to the Picard group through the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology.