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For a presheaf $\mathcal{F}$, first form its stalks ${\mathcal{F}}_x={\underrightarrow{\lim }}_{x\in U}\mathcal{F}(U)$. Define ${\mathcal{F}}^{+}(U)$ to consist of families $(s_x{)}_{x\in U}$, with $s_x\in {\mathcal{F}}_x$, which are locally represented by sections of $\mathcal{F}$: every $x\in U$ has a neighbourhood $V\subseteq U$ and $t\in \mathcal{F}(V)$ with $s_y=t_y$ for all $y\in V$. Addition is pointwise and restriction discards the components outside the smaller open set. The local representability condition is itself local, so compatible such families on an open cover glue uniquely. Thus ${\mathcal{F}}^{+}$ is a sheaf of abelian groups. This is sheafification by locally representable germs.

The canonical presheaf morphism isThe universal property of sheafification says that, for any sheaf $\mathcal{H}$, composition with $\theta$ gives a natural bijectionIndeed, locally representing a family by $t$ defines its image locally by the image of $t$ in $\mathcal{H}$. Equal germs give locally equal images, and the sheaf gluing axiom gives the unique global image. If $\mathcal{F}$ is already a sheaf, a section with all germs zero is zero, while every locally represented family glues to an actual section. Hence ${\theta }_U$ is both injective and surjective for every $U$, so sheafification leaves a sheaf unchanged.

For a continuous map $f:X\to Y$, the direct image sheaf isAn open cover pulls back to an open cover, so its sheaf axioms follow directly from those of $\mathcal{F}$. To construct the inverse image sheaf, first setRestriction uses the inclusion of these neighbourhood systems when $V$ shrinks. The use of sheafification is important: $P$ need not itself be a sheaf. Continuity and the stalk construction give $(f^{-1}\mathcal{G}{)}_x\cong {\mathcal{G}}_{f(x)}$.

Given an f-morphism of sheaves $\varphi$, define its map on stalks byIf two representatives have the same germ at $f(x)$, they agree on a neighbourhood there. Restriction compatibility makes their images agree on its inverse image, a neighbourhood of $x$, proving well-definedness. The map is a group homomorphism. We index it by $x$, since different points over the same $f(x)$ have different target stalks.

For $s\in \mathcal{G}(U)$, its class in $P(f^{-1}U)$ and then in its sheafification defines the canonical f-morphism of sheaves $\theta (U)$. Its germ at $x$ is simply $s_{f(x)}$. To factor any $\varphi$, take a section $t\in (f^{-1}\mathcal{G})(V)$. Locally on an open cover $V=\bigcup V_a$, it comes from a section $s_a\in \mathcal{G}(U_a)$ with $V_a\subseteq f^{-1}{U}_a$. Define the prospective image on $V_a$ byOn an overlap, the representatives have the same inverse-image germs, so their images have the same germs by the maps ${\varphi }_x$. Two sheaf sections with equal germs everywhere are equal. The local images therefore glue uniquely, independently of every representative and cover choice. This construction is additive and commutes with restrictions, giving a sheaf morphism $\psi :f^{-1}\mathcal{G}\to \mathcal{F}$ withConversely any factorization must have the prescribed image on these locally generating sections, proving uniqueness. This is the universal property of an inverse image sheaf.

An f-morphism of sheaves is exactly a sheaf morphism $\mathcal{G}\to f_{\ast }\mathcal{F}$. Thus the two constructions give the inverse-image direct-image adjunctionNaturality follows from composing the local representatives and their images with morphisms in either sheaf variable. This is an adjunction for sheaves of abelian groups; it is not the tensor-adjusted pullback of modules on a ringed space.