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Pulling back the equation of a Weil divisor can give zero

Statement refuted

The claim refuted is: for every morphism of schemes f:X→Y and every Weil divisor D=∑nZ[Z] on Y, the pullback f∗D is defined by pulling back local equations of the prime divisors Z. The closed-point map i:Spec⁡k→Ak1 landing at the origin refutes it for the prime divisor [0]: the structure-sheaf map sends its equation t to 0∈k. This zero is a meromorphic function, but not a meromorphic unit, so it does not give the pullback of the equation as a Cartier-divisor equation; the source also has no prime divisors.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A field k, the affine line Y=Ak1=Spec⁡k[t] with origin Z=V(t)={0}, the one-point scheme X=Spec⁡k, and the morphism i:X→Y corresponding to the k-algebra homomorphism k[t]→k with t↦0.

[F1]

Y=Spec⁡k[t] is a normal Noetherian integral scheme of dimension one; its prime divisors are the closed points V(g) for the irreducible polynomials g, and Z=V(t) is a prime divisor with local equation t. The element t is a meromorphic unit on Y, that is, t∈K(Y)×=k(t)×, and it is a regular section of OY, i.e. a nonzerodivisor in every local ring of Y (Weil divisor normal noetherian scheme).

[F2]

X=Spec⁡k is a zero-dimensional integral scheme with OX(X)=k and OX=KX the constant sheaf k (Sheaf total quotient rings); it has no prime divisors, because a prime divisor requires local-ring dimension one at its generic point, whereas the unique stalk of X is the zero-dimensional field k, so Div⁡(X)=0 and the only Weil divisor on X is the zero divisor (Weil divisor normal noetherian scheme).

[F3]

The morphism i is the spectrum of the k-algebra homomorphism k[t]→k, t↦0 (The underlying space of an affine spectrum, Morphisms of schemes); on global sections i#(t)=0∈k. Its image is the origin: the unique prime p=(0) of k pulls back to (i#)−1(0)=(t), so i−1(Z)=X.

[F4]

A pullback of all meromorphic functions is induced when f# carries every stalkwise nonzerodivisor section to a stalkwise nonzerodivisor. Pullback of a particular Cartier divisor requires only an admissible datum ai/si whose pulled-back numerators and denominators are regular. For an effective Cartier divisor, its pullback is defined exactly when its pulled-back regular local equations remain regular (Pullback of a Cartier divisor).

[F5]

A section g∈OX(V) defines an effective Cartier divisor on V only when multiplication by g is injective on the local rings, i.e. when g is a nonzerodivisor (Effective cartier divisor, Effective Cartier divisors are closed subschemes cut out by regular equations).

Counterexample

1.1F1

The origin Z=V(t) is a prime divisor of Y with local equation t, and t is a regular function on Y; its divisor is the Weil divisor [0], whose local equation at the origin is the meromorphic unit t.

1.2F2F3F4

The structure-sheaf pullback sends t to 0∈OX(X)=k. This zero is a meromorphic function on X, but it is not a regular section: multiplication by 0 on the nonzero ring k is not injective. Since t is a regular section on Y, i# fails the condition in [F4] for inducing a pullback map on meromorphic functions. Thus no pullback of the local equation as a meromorphic unit is defined, and no order of its image can be evaluated.

1.3F2F3

The set-theoretic inverse image is not a divisor of the source either: i−1(Z)=X by [F3], a closed subscheme of codimension zero rather than a formal sum of prime divisors, and Div⁡(X)=0 by [F2], so there is no nonzero Weil divisor of X that could receive the class [0].

1.4F4F5

The failure is not an artefact of the choice of equation: by [F5] the pulled-back equation 0 cuts out no effective Cartier divisor on X, so the associated invertible-sheaf construction also has no input; the divisor V(t) of the target simply has no pulled-back divisor along i in the sense of pulling back its equation.

2.1step 1.1step 1.2step 1.3step 1.4∎

Therefore the proposed pullback of the Weil divisor [0] along the morphism i:Spec⁡k→Ak1 is undefined: the structure-sheaf image of its equation is 0, which is not a meromorphic unit, and the source possesses no prime divisor at all. This refutes the general claim that arbitrary morphisms carry a pullback of Weil divisors defined by pulling back local equations.

The example is minimal in two independent ways. The source is a single point, so the failure cannot be blamed on a poor cover choice, and the target is the affine line, the simplest scheme carrying a nonzero prime divisor with a global equation. The same phenomenon occurs for the constant morphism Ak1→Ak1 with t↦0, where the inverse image of Z is the whole source of dimension one; there the pulled-back equation is again 0 and is not regular. The positive results for pullback on this page therefore carry explicit hypotheses, such as flatness, ensuring that pulled-back regular equations stay regular (Pullback of a Cartier divisor).

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