Chow group

Summary

In algebraic geometry, the Chow groups (named after Wei-Liang Chow by Claude Chevalley (1958)) of an algebraic variety over any field are algebro-geometric analogs of the homology of a topological space. The elements of the Chow group are formed out of subvarieties (so-called algebraic cycles) in a similar way to how simplicial or cellular homology groups are formed out of subcomplexes. When the variety is smooth, the Chow groups can be interpreted as cohomology groups (compare Poincaré duality) and have a multiplication called the intersection product. The Chow groups carry rich information about an algebraic variety, and they are correspondingly hard to compute in general.

Rational equivalence and Chow groups

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For what follows, define a variety over a field   to be an integral scheme of finite type over  . For any scheme   of finite type over  , an algebraic cycle on   means a finite linear combination of subvarieties of   with integer coefficients. (Here and below, subvarieties are understood to be closed in  , unless stated otherwise.) For a natural number  , the group   of  -dimensional cycles (or  -cycles, for short) on   is the free abelian group on the set of  -dimensional subvarieties of  .

For a variety   of dimension   and any rational function   on   which is not identically zero, the divisor of   is the  -cycle

 

where the sum runs over all  -dimensional subvarieties   of   and the integer   denotes the order of vanishing of   along  . (Thus   is negative if   has a pole along  .) The definition of the order of vanishing requires some care for   singular.[1]

For a scheme   of finite type over  , the group of  -cycles rationally equivalent to zero is the subgroup of   generated by the cycles   for all  -dimensional subvarieties   of   and all nonzero rational functions   on  . The Chow group   of  -dimensional cycles on   is the quotient group of   by the subgroup of cycles rationally equivalent to zero. Sometimes one writes   for the class of a subvariety   in the Chow group, and if two subvarieties   and   have  , then   and   are said to be rationally equivalent.

For example, when   is a variety of dimension  , the Chow group   is the divisor class group of  . When   is smooth over   (or more generally, a locally Noetherian normal factorial scheme [2]), this is isomorphic to the Picard group of line bundles on  .

Examples of Rational Equivalence

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Rational Equivalence on Projective Space

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Rationally equivalent cycles defined by hypersurfaces are easy to construct on projective space because they can all be constructed as the vanishing loci of the same vector bundle. For example, given two homogeneous polynomials of degree  , so  , we can construct a family of hypersurfaces defined as the vanishing locus of  . Schematically, this can be constructed as

 

using the projection   we can see the fiber over a point   is the projective hypersurface defined by  . This can be used to show that the cycle class of every hypersurface of degree   is rationally equivalent to  , since   can be used to establish a rational equivalence. Notice that the locus of   is   and it has multiplicity  , which is the coefficient of its cycle class.

Rational Equivalence of Cycles on a Curve

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If we take two distinct line bundles   of a smooth projective curve  , then the vanishing loci of a generic section of both line bundles defines non-equivalent cycle classes in  . This is because   for smooth varieties, so the divisor classes of   and   define inequivalent classes.

The Chow ring

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When the scheme   is smooth over a field  , the Chow groups form a ring, not just a graded abelian group. Namely, when   is smooth over  , define   to be the Chow group of codimension-  cycles on  . (When   is a variety of dimension  , this just means that  .) Then the groups   form a commutative graded ring with the product:

 

The product arises from intersecting algebraic cycles. For example, if   and   are smooth subvarieties of   of codimension   and   respectively, and if   and   intersect transversely, then the product   in   is the sum of the irreducible components of the intersection  , which all have codimension  .

More generally, in various cases, intersection theory constructs an explicit cycle that represents the product   in the Chow ring. For example, if   and   are subvarieties of complementary dimension (meaning that their dimensions sum to the dimension of  ) whose intersection has dimension zero, then   is equal to the sum of the points of the intersection with coefficients called intersection numbers. For any subvarieties   and   of a smooth scheme   over  , with no assumption on the dimension of the intersection, William Fulton and Robert MacPherson's intersection theory constructs a canonical element of the Chow groups of   whose image in the Chow groups of   is the product  .[3]

Examples

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Projective space

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The Chow ring of projective space   over any field   is the ring

 

where   is the class of a hyperplane (the zero locus of a single linear function). Furthermore, any subvariety   of degree   and codimension   in projective space is rationally equivalent to  . It follows that for any two subvarieties   and   of complementary dimension in   and degrees  ,  , respectively, their product in the Chow ring is simply

 

where   is the class of a  -rational point in  . For example, if   and   intersect transversely, it follows that   is a zero-cycle of degree  . If the base field   is algebraically closed, this means that there are exactly   points of intersection; this is a version of Bézout's theorem, a classic result of enumerative geometry.

Projective bundle formula

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Given a vector bundle   of rank   over a smooth proper scheme   over a field, the Chow ring of the associated projective bundle   can be computed using the Chow ring of   and the Chern classes of  . If we let   and   the Chern classes of  , then there is an isomorphism of rings

 

Hirzebruch surfaces

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For example, the Chow ring of a Hirzebruch surface can be readily computed using the projective bundle formula. Recall that it is constructed as   over  . Then, the only non-trivial Chern class of this vector bundle is  . This implies that the Chow ring is isomorphic to

 

Remarks

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For other algebraic varieties, Chow groups can have richer behavior. For example, let   be an elliptic curve over a field  . Then the Chow group of zero-cycles on   fits into an exact sequence

 

Thus the Chow group of an elliptic curve   is closely related to the group   of  -rational points of  . When   is a number field,   is called the Mordell–Weil group of  , and some of the deepest problems in number theory are attempts to understand this group. When   is the complex numbers, the example of an elliptic curve shows that Chow groups can be uncountable abelian groups.

Functoriality

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For a proper morphism   of schemes over  , there is a pushforward homomorphism   for each integer  . For example, for a proper scheme   over  , this gives a homomorphism  , which takes a closed point in   to its degree over  . (A closed point in   has the form   for a finite extension field   of  , and its degree means the degree of the field   over  .)

For a flat morphism   of schemes over   with fibers of dimension   (possibly empty), there is a homomorphism  .

A key computational tool for Chow groups is the localization sequence, as follows. For a scheme   over a field   and a closed subscheme   of  , there is an exact sequence

 

where the first homomorphism is the pushforward associated to the proper morphism  , and the second homomorphism is pullback with respect to the flat morphism  .[4] The localization sequence can be extended to the left using a generalization of Chow groups, (Borel–Moore) motivic homology groups, also known as higher Chow groups.[5]

For any morphism   of smooth schemes over  , there is a pullback homomorphism  , which is in fact a ring homomorphism  .

Examples of flat pullbacks

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Note that non-examples can be constructed using blowups; for example, if we take the blowup of the origin in   then the fiber over the origin is isomorphic to  .

Branched coverings of curves

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Consider the branched covering of curves

 

Since the morphism ramifies whenever   we get a factorization

 

where one of the  . This implies that the points   have multiplicities   respectively. The flat pullback of the point   is then

 

Flat family of varieties

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Consider a flat family of varieties

 

and a subvariety  . Then, using the cartesian square

 

we see that the image of   is a subvariety of  . Therefore, we have

 

Cycle maps

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There are several homomorphisms (known as cycle maps) from Chow groups to more computable theories.

First, for a scheme X over the complex numbers, there is a homomorphism from Chow groups to Borel–Moore homology:[6]

 

The factor of 2 appears because an i-dimensional subvariety of X has real dimension 2i. When X is smooth over the complex numbers, this cycle map can be rewritten using Poincaré duality as a homomorphism

 

In this case (X smooth over C), these homomorphisms form a ring homomorphism from the Chow ring to the cohomology ring. Intuitively, this is because the products in both the Chow ring and the cohomology ring describe the intersection of cycles.

For a smooth complex projective variety, the cycle map from the Chow ring to ordinary cohomology factors through a richer theory, Deligne cohomology.[7] This incorporates the Abel–Jacobi map from cycles homologically equivalent to zero to the intermediate Jacobian. The exponential sequence shows that CH1(X) maps isomorphically to Deligne cohomology, but that fails for CHj(X) with j > 1.

For a scheme X over an arbitrary field k, there is an analogous cycle map from Chow groups to (Borel–Moore) etale homology. When X is smooth over k, this homomorphism can be identified with a ring homomorphism from the Chow ring to etale cohomology.[8]

Relation to K-theory

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An (algebraic) vector bundle E on a smooth scheme X over a field has Chern classes ci(E) in CHi(X), with the same formal properties as in topology.[9] The Chern classes give a close connection between vector bundles and Chow groups. Namely, let K0(X) be the Grothendieck group of vector bundles on X. As part of the Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorem, Grothendieck showed that the Chern character gives an isomorphism

 

This isomorphism shows the importance of rational equivalence, compared to any other adequate equivalence relation on algebraic cycles.

Conjectures

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Some of the deepest conjectures in algebraic geometry and number theory are attempts to understand Chow groups. For example:

  • The Mordell–Weil theorem implies that the divisor class group CHn-1(X) is finitely generated for any variety X of dimension n over a number field. It is an open problem whether all Chow groups are finitely generated for every variety over a number field. The BlochKato conjecture on values of L-functions predicts that these groups are finitely generated. Moreover, the rank of the group of cycles modulo homological equivalence, and also of the group of cycles homologically equivalent to zero, should be equal to the order of vanishing of an L-function of the given variety at certain integer points. Finiteness of these ranks would also follow from the Bass conjecture in algebraic K-theory.
  • For a smooth complex projective variety X, the Hodge conjecture predicts the image (tensored with the rationals Q) of the cycle map from the Chow groups to singular cohomology. For a smooth projective variety over a finitely generated field (such as a finite field or number field), the Tate conjecture predicts the image (tensored with Ql) of the cycle map from Chow groups to l-adic cohomology.
  • For a smooth projective variety X over any field, the BlochBeilinson conjecture predicts a filtration on the Chow groups of X (tensored with the rationals) with strong properties.[10] The conjecture would imply a tight connection between the singular or etale cohomology of X and the Chow groups of X.
For example, let X be a smooth complex projective surface. The Chow group of zero-cycles on X maps onto the integers by the degree homomorphism; let K be the kernel. If the geometric genus h0(X, Ω2) is not zero, Mumford showed that K is "infinite-dimensional" (not the image of any finite-dimensional family of zero-cycles on X).[11] The Bloch–Beilinson conjecture would imply a satisfying converse, Bloch's conjecture on zero-cycles: for a smooth complex projective surface X with geometric genus zero, K should be finite-dimensional; more precisely, it should map isomorphically to the group of complex points of the Albanese variety of X.[12]

Variants

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Bivariant theory

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Fulton and MacPherson extended the Chow ring to singular varieties by defining the "operational Chow ring" and more generally a bivariant theory associated to any morphism of schemes.[13] A bivariant theory is a pair of covariant and contravariant functors that assign to a map a group and a ring respectively. It generalizes a cohomology theory, which is a contravariant functor that assigns to a space a ring, namely a cohomology ring. The name "bivariant" refers to the fact that the theory contains both covariant and contravariant functors.[14]

This is in a sense the most elementary extension of the Chow ring to singular varieties; other theories such as motivic cohomology map to the operational Chow ring.[15]

Other variants

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Arithmetic Chow groups are an amalgamation of Chow groups of varieties over Q together with a component encoding Arakelov-theoretical information, that is, differential forms on the associated complex manifold.

The theory of Chow groups of schemes of finite type over a field extends easily to that of algebraic spaces. The key advantage of this extension is that it is easier to form quotients in the latter category and thus it is more natural to consider equivariant Chow groups of algebraic spaces. A much more formidable extension is that of Chow group of a stack, which has been constructed only in some special case and which is needed in particular to make sense of a virtual fundamental class.

History

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Rational equivalence of divisors (known as linear equivalence) was studied in various forms during the 19th century, leading to the ideal class group in number theory and the Jacobian variety in the theory of algebraic curves. For higher-codimension cycles, rational equivalence was introduced by Francesco Severi in the 1930s. In 1956, Wei-Liang Chow gave an influential proof that the intersection product is well-defined on cycles modulo rational equivalence for a smooth quasi-projective variety, using Chow's moving lemma. Starting in the 1970s, Fulton and MacPherson gave the current standard foundation for Chow groups, working with singular varieties wherever possible. In their theory, the intersection product for smooth varieties is constructed by deformation to the normal cone.[16]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Fulton. Intersection Theory, section 1.2 and Appendix A.3.
  2. ^ Stacks Project, https://stacks.math.columbia.edu/tag/0BE9
  3. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, section 8.1.
  4. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, Proposition 1.8.
  5. ^ Bloch, Algebraic cycles and higher K-groups; Voevodsky, Triangulated categories of motives over a field, section 2.2 and Proposition 4.2.9.
  6. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, section 19.1
  7. ^ Voisin, Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry, v. 1, section 12.3.3; v. 2, Theorem 9.24.
  8. ^ Deligne, Cohomologie Etale (SGA 4 1/2), Expose 4.
  9. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, section 3.2 and Example 8.3.3.
  10. ^ Voisin, Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry, v. 2, Conjecture 11.21.
  11. ^ Voisin, Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry, v. 2, Theorem 10.1.
  12. ^ Voisin, Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry, v. 2, Ch. 11.
  13. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, Chapter 17.
  14. ^ Fulton, William; MacPherson, Robert (1981). Categorical Framework for the Study of Singular Spaces. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 9780821822432.
  15. ^ B. Totaro, Chow groups, Chow cohomology and linear varieties
  16. ^ Fulton, Intersection Theory, Chapters 5, 6, 8.

Introductory

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  • Eisenbud, David; Harris, Joe, 3264 and All That: A Second Course in Algebraic Geometry

Advanced

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