Theorem of the Cube

The Theorem of the Cube says that the third finite difference of a line bundle on an abelian variety is trivial. On $X^3$, it is the alternating tensor product of the pullbacks along the seven nonempty partial-sum maps.

For a line bundle on an elliptic curve over a number field, the geometric cube identity remains exact as a line-bundle identity. The Weil height machine translates it into the displayed bounded-error identity for a chosen logarithmic height, uniformly on the rational triples. This distinction is essential: arbitrary naive heights do not obey an exact quadratic identity. Dividing the identity for $2^{n}P,2^{n}Q,2^{n}R$ by $4^n$ produces an exact identity for the canonical height of an elliptic curve.

If a line bundle on $E^3$ is trivial on each zero-coordinate face, its First Chern class vanishes: the integral second cohomology consists of single-factor second cohomology and cross-products of first cohomology from pairs, and each summand is detected on a coordinate face. The holomorphic exponential sequence then puts the bundle in ${\mathrm{Pic}}^0(E^3)$. The decomposition of first cohomology, including Dolbeault cohomology, identifies this group with ${\mathrm{Pic}}^0(E{)}^3$. Triviality on the three coordinate axes makes all three factors trivial. Applying this cube principle to the alternating partial-sum pullbacks proves the usual addition-map Theorem of the Cube.

For group homomorphisms $f,g:A\to B$, this Picard group class is symmetric and additive in both arguments. The Theorem of the Cube says precisely that the third additive difference of $h\mapsto [h^{\ast }L]$ vanishes, proving additivity of the cross-effect. The Poincaré line bundle expresses it as $(f,{\varphi }_{L}g{)}^{\ast }{P}_B$, so it depends only on the Néron-Severi group class of $L$. Its associated homomorphism is $\hat{f}{\varphi }_{L}g+\hat{g}{\varphi }_{L}f$.

For a line bundle $L$ on an abelian variety and points $x,y$,

For a line bundle $L$ on an abelian variety $X$,is a homomorphism by the Theorem of the square.

For a line bundle $L$ on an abelian variety $A$, this closed subgroup consists of $a$ such that $T_a^{\ast }L\cong L$. It is a stabilizer of a Picard group class, which need not be the same as the stabilizer of an individual Weil divisor representing that class.

For an abelian variety,is the subgroup of translation-invariant line bundles.

The seesaw theorem determines a line bundle on a product from its restrictions to fibers: if it is trivial on all fibers over one factor and on one transverse section, then it is trivial.