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LemmaStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedPipeline-generatedjudge pass (gpt-5.6-terra)audited 2026-09-13
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Cap duality passes to increasing open unions

Statement

Let M=j1Uj be an R-oriented boundaryless n-manifold with UjUj+1 open, oriented by restriction; R is commutative unital. The open-extension and inclusion maps induce canonical isomorphisms limjHcp(Uj;R)Hcp(M;R),limjHq(Uj;R)Hq(M;R). Under them DM is the colimit of the maps DUj. If every DUj is an isomorphism in every degree, so is DM. This implication and both colimit identifications are choice-free; any assumptions needed to prove the stage isomorphisms remain assumptions when they are invoked.

Facts & Assumptions

[F1]

Compactly supported singular cohomology gives explicit representatives, equality at a common larger compact support, and the colimit universal property.

[F2]

Cap product and the Mayer–Vietoris duality ladder constructs extension under every open inclusion by support excision and proves DWe=iDU for UW open.

Proof

Given: The increasing open sets and coefficients of the statement. For any sequential system of modules, its colimit can be constructed from pairs (j,a), with (j,a)(k,b) exactly when their images agree at some j,k. Reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity follow using maxima of finitely many indices. Addition is performed after moving to a common stage; independence and the module laws follow at a common larger stage. A compatible family of homomorphisms defines a unique map on these classes. This is the same representative construction as [F1], here with index set the positive integers.

1.1

Every compact KM lies in one Uj. The cover by the increasing opens has a finite subcover on K, and the maximum index of this subcover suffices. If K is empty any index suffices. A finite singular chain has compact image support: each of its finitely many simplex images is compact by [F3] and the continuous-image cover argument, and a finite union of compact sets is compact by taking the union of their finite subcovers. Thus every finite chain in M lies in one Uj. The same statement applies simultaneously to finitely many chains.

F3given
2.1

The extension maps [F2] define a map from the sequential colimit of Hcp(Uj) to Hcp(M). A target class is represented on a compact support K by [F1]. By step 1.1 take KUj; support excision identifies its relative group with the one inside Uj, so the class is in the image. If a stage class maps to zero, represent it at compact KUj. By [F1] it becomes zero in the ambient relative group at some larger compact L. Take j with LU by step 1.1. The support-excision isomorphisms of [F2] identify this vanishing with vanishing at support L inside U. Hence the original stage class is zero in the sequential colimit. This proves bijectivity and also identifies the map with the canonical support-extension map.

F1F2step 1.1
2.2

Inclusion of singular chains defines the homology colimit map. Every target homology class has a finite cycle representative lying in some Uj by step 1.1, so the map is onto. If a stage cycle becomes zero in Hq(M;R), it is the boundary of one finite chain in M. A later U contains that chain and the original stage, so the class becomes zero there. Thus the map is injective by the sequential common-stage criterion. This proves the second isomorphism without asserting that an exactness theorem commutes with homology. In negative degrees all these groups are zero by the singular-chain convention.

step 1.1
3.1

The square for each open inclusion commutes by [F2]. Consequently the canonical maps in steps 2.1 and 2.2 intertwine the colimit of the DUj with DM: evaluate the square on a representative from any stage, and every colimit class is such a representative. If the stage duality maps are all bijective, their induced colimit map is onto since a homology representative at stage j has a preimage under that particular DUj. It is injective since if DUja becomes zero at a later stage k, commutativity gives DUk(ea)=0, whence ea=0 by injectivity there. The original class is zero in the colimit.

F2step 2.1step 2.2
4.1

The arguments include repeated or empty stages, an empty union, zero coefficients and zero classes. If a stage is already all of M, the colimits agree with that eventual constant system by the same common-stage relation. Point spaces use finite zero-chains and their ordinary boundaries. At p=n the target is H0 and the finite boundary-witness argument remains valid; at p<0 or np<0 the respective group is zero and the argument still applies. Degenerate simplices have compact domains too. Only a finite subcover, a maximum index, and a representative or preimage for one given class were used. There is no simultaneous selection of stage inverses or representatives, so no new AC assumption is introduced.

F1F2F3step 1.1step 2.1step 2.2step 3.1

Depends on

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