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Affine Schemes and the Structure Sheaf
1 · Prerequisites
- Algebraic Extensions, Extension Degree, and Finite Fields
- Binary Operations, Monoids, Groups and Subgroups
- Cardinal Arithmetic, Cofinality and the Alephs
- Categories, Functors and Natural Transformations
- Compactness
- Compactness in Metric Spaces
- Construction of the Natural Numbers
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Cauchy Sequences
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Dedekind Cuts
- Cosets, Index and Lagrange's Theorem
- Countability and Uncountability
- Divisibility, Euclidean Domains, Principal Ideal Domains and Unique Factorisation
- Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors and the Characteristic Polynomial
- Finite Counting, Factorials and Binomial Coefficients
- Foundations of the Real Numbers for Analysis
- Group Homomorphisms and the Isomorphism Theorems
- Ideals, Quotient Rings and the Isomorphism Theorems for Rings
- Limits and Colimits
- Linear Independence, Bases and Dimension
- Metric Spaces
- Modules, Submodules, Quotient Modules and the Isomorphism Theorems
- Noether Normalisation and Nullstellensatz
- Noetherian Rings and Hilbert Basis
- Normal Subgroups and Quotient Groups
- Order, Zorn's Lemma, and the Axiom of Choice
- Ordinal Arithmetic and the First Uncountable Ordinal
- Ordinals, Cardinals, and Transfinite Recursion
- Polynomial Rings, the Division Algorithm and Roots
- Prime Spectra and Radicals
- Relations, Functions, and Quotients
- Rings, Subrings, Integral Domains and Fields
- Roots, Rational Powers, and Classical Inequalities
- Set Theory Beyond Choice: Recorded, Not Proved Here
- Sheaf Operations Exactness Ringed Spaces and Module Pullback
- Simple Field Extensions and the Construction of the Complex Numbers
- Suprema and Infima
- Tensor Products of Modules
- The Field of Fractions and Localisation
- The ZFC Axioms and the Basic Set Constructions
- Topological Spaces and Continuity
- Universal Properties, Representables and the Yoneda Lemma
- Vector Spaces, Linear Subspaces, Span and Direct Sums
- Zariski Topology on Prime Spectra
2 · Summary
An affine scheme is a prime spectrum equipped with the sheaf obtained by localizing the coordinate ring on distinguished opens. This page builds that sheaf from its basis data, computes its stalks and global functions, and uses those computations to explain the reversal from ring maps to scheme maps.
The final items distinguish closed, generic, and classical points; retain nilpotents through a basic thickening; and introduce the functor-of-points viewpoint. Throughout, rings are commutative and unital, with the zero ring allowed: its spectrum is empty.
3 · Logical flowchart
4 · Definitions, theorems and proofs
The underlying space of an affine spectrum
Definition
All rings below are commutative with . For a ring , the underlying topological spectrum is the Zariski space whose points are the prime ideals of ; its basic opens are . This notation is deliberately topological until the structure sheaf is constructed. For there are no proper prime ideals, so this space is empty.
The localization presheaf on distinguished opens
Definition
For , assign . If , the restriction is the unique homomorphism extending ; it exists because is invertible in . The next lemma proves that this assignment is independent of the displayed generator.
Localization sections are independent of a distinguished-open presentation
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice. The assignment , with the localization restrictions, is independent of the representation of a distinguished open and is a sheaf on the distinguished-open basis.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The Axiom of Choice, a ring , and an arbitrary cover by distinguished opens contained in .
Proof
If , localization universality gives the canonical restriction ; for equal opens the two restrictions are inverse.
Under , the cover becomes the distinguished cover by the images of the . The spectrum-cover lemma makes those images generate the unit ideal in , so a finite subfamily already generates . The standard localization calculation for a finite unit-ideal cover then glues every compatible family in the uniquely to an element of .
This includes the empty case: if , then lies in every prime ideal, so it is nilpotent; hence is the zero ring, and the empty compatible family glues uniquely to its sole element.
Thus gluing and uniqueness hold for every cover of a distinguished open by distinguished opens, not only for finite covers. This is precisely the sheaf axiom for the localization presheaf on the distinguished-open basis, so steps 2.1 and 2.2 prove the claim.
The localization construction extends to the structure sheaf on Spec A
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice. For every ring , the basic-open localization data extend uniquely to a sheaf of rings on all opens of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The Axiom of Choice and the distinguished-open localization assignment of the preceding lemma.
Proof
The preceding lemma gives a sheaf of rings on the distinguished-open basis.
For an open , let be the ring of families of germs of such that every has a distinguished neighborhood on which the family is represented by one section of . Restriction discards the germs outside the smaller open, and ring operations are pointwise. These maps make a presheaf of rings; for , the empty germ family is its unique element.
Local representability is itself local, so compatible families in the rings glue uniquely by taking their pointwise germs. Hence is a sheaf of rings. If is distinguished, the map from to its family of germs is bijective by locality and gluing for the basis sheaf in step 1.1. Thus agrees with the localization assignment on every distinguished open.
If is any other sheaf of rings with the same basis restriction, its sections on each open map to the locally representable germ families of step 2.1. The sheaf axiom makes this map bijective and compatible with restrictions, so uniquely through the prescribed basis identifications.
Sections and restrictions on distinguished opens of an affine scheme
Statement
For , . If , the restriction is the canonical localization map .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The sheaf extending the localization basis assignment.
Proof
The extended sheaf agrees with the basis assignment on , so its sections are .
Its restriction along is the prescribed canonical localization map .
If , then , the unique ring of sections on the empty open.
The stalk of the affine structure sheaf at a prime is A_p
Statement
For , there is a canonical isomorphism .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A prime and the affine structure sheaf.
Proof
The opens with are cofinal neighborhoods of , and their sections are .
Hence the stalk is .
This colimit is by the universal property of localization.
Spec A with its structure sheaf is a locally ringed space
Statement
is a locally ringed space.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The affine structure sheaf.
Proof
At , the stalk is canonically isomorphic to [given] .
The ring is local, with maximal ideal [step 1.1] , so the canonically isomorphic stalk is local as well.
Thus every stalk is local, which is exactly the locally ringed condition.
The residue field at a point of an affine scheme
Definition
For a point of a locally ringed space, put . If in an affine spectrum, the canonical isomorphism carries to and therefore induces canonical field isomorphisms
Global functions on Spec A recover A
Statement
The canonical map is an isomorphism, including when .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The basic-open section calculation.
Proof
.
The basic-open calculation gives .
The canonical map is an isomorphism, also for .
A principal localization identifies its spectrum with a distinguished open
Statement
For , the morphism induced by identifies with the open locally ringed subspace of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A commutative ring and .
The map on prime spectra induced by is a homeomorphism onto (The spectrum of a principal localisation is the distinguished open D(f)).
The structure-sheaf sections on a distinguished open are the corresponding localizations (Sections and restrictions on distinguished opens of an affine scheme).
Proof
By [F1], the underlying map is a homeomorphism from onto .
On the relevant section rings are and , canonically isomorphic and compatible with restrictions.
The basic opens cover , so the preceding identifications give an isomorphism of locally ringed spaces.
Affine schemes and their coordinate rings
Definition
An affine scheme is a locally ringed space isomorphic to for some ring . Such an is a coordinate ring; it is canonically recovered as the global sections after a chosen affine presentation.
The map of affine spectra induced by a ring homomorphism
Definition
A homomorphism gives the continuous contraction map , . On its sheaf map is the localization map ; these commute with restrictions and define a morphism of ringed spaces. Its localness is verified next.
The stalk maps induced by a ring map are local
Statement
Let , let , and put . The induced stalk homomorphism is local.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A ring map and a prime of .
The induced map of affine spectra has, on stalks, the localization map at (The map of affine spectra induced by a ring homomorphism).
The maximal ideals of and are and , respectively ( is local with unique maximal ideal ).
Proof
By [F1], the stalk map sends to , for .
This image lies in exactly when , because its denominator is outside the prime ideal.
Thus [F2] identifies the inverse image of with , so the map is local.
Affine schemes are contravariantly equivalent to commutative rings
Statement
For commutative unital rings , the assignment gives a natural bijection Consequently is a contravariant equivalence from commutative rings to affine schemes, with quasi-inverse global sections.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Commutative unital rings and a morphism .
Global sections of an affine spectrum recover its ring (Global functions on Spec A recover A).
A ring map gives a morphism of affine spectra (The map of affine spectra induced by a ring homomorphism), and its stalk maps are local (The stalk maps induced by a ring map are local).
Proof
By [F2], every ring map induces a locally ringed-space morphism .
A morphism gives a global-sections map using [F1].
Locality determines its point map by contraction and localization determines each basic-open section map, so .
The constructions of steps 1.1--2.1 are inverse and natural; global sections is the quasi-inverse.
Affine-scheme isomorphisms are exactly coordinate-ring isomorphisms in reverse direction
Statement
An affine-scheme morphism is an isomorphism if and only if its associated homomorphism is an isomorphism.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A morphism .
Affine spectra and commutative rings are contravariantly equivalent (Affine schemes are contravariantly equivalent to commutative rings).
Proof
If is an isomorphism, [F1] carries its inverse to an inverse of the associated ring map .
If is an isomorphism, its inverse ring map induces the inverse of .
These two implications prove the claim.
Closed points of an affine scheme
Definition
A point of a scheme is closed when is closed in its underlying topology. Assuming the Axiom of Choice, the closed points of are exactly the maximal ideals of .
Classical k-points give closed points over an algebraically closed field
Statement
Let be algebraically closed and let be a reduced finite-type -algebra. The closed points of are exactly the kernels of the -algebra maps . They need not exhaust all points of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: An algebraically closed field and a reduced finite-type -algebra .
Every maximal ideal of an affine -algebra is the kernel of a -algebra map to (Over an algebraically closed field, maximal ideals of an affine algebra are kernels of points).
Closed points of an affine scheme are its maximal ideals (Closed points of an affine scheme).
Proof
A closed point is maximal by [F2], and [F1] identifies every such ideal with a kernel .
Every unital -algebra map is surjective, so its kernel is maximal and hence closed by [F2].
Thus classical -points and closed points agree, but this makes no assertion that every prime is maximal.
Generic points of irreducible closed subsets
Definition
A point is a generic point of a closed subset if . For a prime of , the point is generic for .
Every irreducible closed subset of an affine spectrum has a unique generic point
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice. Every irreducible closed subset of has a unique generic point. Thus every affine spectrum is sober.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A commutative ring , the Axiom of Choice, and an irreducible closed subset of .
A nonempty irreducible closed subset is for a unique prime , which is its unique generic point (A Zariski-closed subset is irreducible exactly when its radical defining ideal is prime, and then it has a unique generic point).
Proof
The irreducible closed subset is nonempty, so [F1] gives a prime generic for .
Any other generic point has the same closure and is equal to by the uniqueness in [F1].
Therefore every irreducible closed subset has a unique generic point.
Reduced affine schemes
Definition
An affine scheme is reduced if (equivalently, for every) coordinate ring is reduced. This is presentation-independent because an affine-scheme isomorphism gives an isomorphism of coordinate rings.
Integral affine schemes
Definition
An affine scheme is integral when is a nonzero integral domain. Equivalently, is nonempty, reduced, and irreducible: reduced says the nilradical is zero, and irreducibility says that nilradical is prime, hence is prime; nonemptiness excludes .
An affine nilpotent thickening
Definition
If is nilpotent, the quotient map gives the affine nilpotent thickening . It is a homeomorphism on underlying spaces, but need not be an isomorphism of schemes: the quotient may remove nonzero nilpotent sections.
The functor of points of an affine scheme
Definition
For a scheme , its functor of points is the covariant functor on commutative rings . For , it is naturally .
An affine scheme is determined by its functor of points
Statement
If and are affine schemes and naturally as functors on commutative rings, then as schemes.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Affine schemes and a natural isomorphism .
Yoneda identifies natural transformations between representable functors with morphisms between their representing objects (The Yoneda bijection is natural in both and ).
Proof
By [F1], the natural isomorphism and its inverse are induced by morphisms and .
Their composites induce identity natural transformations, so faithfulness in [F1] makes both composites identity morphisms.
The two morphisms are inverse scheme isomorphisms.
The affine scheme of dual numbers
Definition
For a field , the dual-numbers scheme is . Its class is nilpotent, so this is an infinitesimal affine test scheme rather than a reduced point.
Every distinguished open of an affine spectrum is quasi-compact
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice. For every , the distinguished open is quasi-compact.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The Axiom of Choice, a commutative ring , and .
is homeomorphic to (A principal localization identifies its spectrum with a distinguished open).
Assuming the Axiom of Choice, the prime spectrum of every commutative ring is compact (The prime spectrum is compact in the library's non-Hausdorff sense).
Proof
By [F1], is homeomorphic to .
The latter is compact by [F2], including when is the zero ring.
Compactness transfers across the homeomorphism.
Every affine scheme is quasi-compact
Statement
Every affine scheme is quasi-compact.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: An affine scheme .
Every distinguished open of an affine spectrum is quasi-compact (Every distinguished open of an affine spectrum is quasi-compact).
Proof
Choose an isomorphism from affineness.
The whole spectrum is , which is quasi-compact by [F1].
Its homeomorphic copy is quasi-compact.
Contravariance reverses coordinates and scheme points are not only classical points
An arrow of coordinate rings induces an arrow . A scheme point has its residue field ; it need not be a closed point or evaluation at a ground-field element. Generic points are the basic warning against that identification.
5 · Examples, counterexamples and false statements
None yet.
Sources
- The Stacks Project, Section 26.5
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 26.5.1
- The Stacks Project, Definition 26.5.3
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 6.30.9
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 26.5.4
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 26.6.6
- The Stacks Project, Definition 26.5.5
- The Stacks Project, Section 26.6
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 26.6.4
- The Stacks Project, Lemmas 26.6.4 and 26.6.5
- The Stacks Project, Lemma 26.6.5
- James S. Milne, Algebraic Geometry, 10.24
- The Stacks Project, Section 10.26
- James S. Milne, Algebraic Geometry, 10.28
- The Stacks Project, Section 10.17
- James S. Milne, Algebraic Geometry, 10.81
- James S. Milne, Algebraic Geometry, 10.82--10.83
- James S. Milne, Algebraic Geometry, 10.29