If is a finitely generated R-module and I is an ideal of R, then is the set of all prime ideals containing This is .
Support of a quasicoherent sheafedit
If F is a quasicoherent sheaf on a schemeX, the support of F is the set of all points x in X such that the stalkFx is nonzero. This definition is similar to the definition of the support of a function on a space X, and this is the motivation for using the word "support". Most properties of the support generalize from modules to quasicoherent sheaves word for word. For example, the support of a coherent sheaf (or more generally, a finite type sheaf) is a closed subspace of X.[2]
If M is a module over a ring R, then the support of M as a module coincides with the support of the associated quasicoherent sheaf on the affine scheme Spec R. Moreover, if is an affine cover of a scheme X, then the support of a quasicoherent sheaf F is equal to the union of supports of the associated modules Mα over each Rα.[3]
Examplesedit
As noted above, a prime ideal is in the support if and only if it contains the annihilator of .[4] For example, over , the annihilator of the module
is the ideal . This implies that , the vanishing locus of the polynomialf. Looking at the short exact sequence
we might mistakenly conjecture that the support of I = (f) is Spec(R(f)), which is the complement of the vanishing locus of the polynomial f. In fact, since R is an integral domain, the ideal I = (f) = Rf is isomorphic to R as a module, so its support is the entire space: Supp(I) = Spec(R).
The support of a finite module over a Noetherian ring is always closed under specialization.[citation needed]
Now, if we take two polynomials in an integral domain which form a complete intersection ideal , the tensor property shows us that