Glossary of scheme theory

This is a glossary of scheme theory. For an introduction to the theory of schemes in algebraic geometry, see affine scheme, projective space, sheaf and Scheme (mathematics). The concern here is to list the fundamental technical definitions and properties of scheme theory. See also list of algebraic geometry topics.

Contents

1 Points 2 Local properties 3 Properties of the underlying space 4 Affine morphism 5 Closed immersion 6 Étale morphism 7 Finite morphism 8 Flat morphism 9 Open immersion 10 Projective morphism 11 Proper morphism 12 Separated morphism

Points

A scheme S is a locally ringed space, so a fortiori a topological space, but the meaning of point of S are threefold:

1. a point P of the underlying topological space;
2. a T-valued point of S is a morphism from T to S, for any scheme T;
3. a geometric point, where S is defined over (is equipped with a morphism to) Spec(K), where K is a field, is a morphism from Spec(K*) to S where K* is an algebraic closure of K.

Geometric points are what in the most classical cases, for example algebraic varieties that are complex manifolds, would be the ordinary-sense points. The points P of the underlying space include analogues of the generic points (in the sense of Zariski, not that of André Weil), which specialise to ordinary-sense points. The T-valued points are thought of, via Yoneda's lemma, as a way of identifying S with the representable functor h_S it sets up. Historically there was a process by which projective geometry added more and points (complex points, line at infinity) to simplify the geometry by refining the basic objects. The T-valued points were a massive further step.

Local properties

A property P of (commutative) rings is local in nature, for the Zariski topology if it remains stable under finite localization. Such a property automatically gives a property of schemes which is local in nature. We can require that the scheme is covered by affine open sets whose rings of coordinates have the property P in question.

For example, we can speak of locally noetherian schemes, namely those which are covered by the spectra of Noetherian rings; and we say that a scheme is noetherian when it is covered by 'finitely' many spectra of noetherian rings. Unfortunately, while it is true that the spectrum of a noetherian ring is a noetherian topological space, the converse is false. Much of algebraic geometry is concerned only about noetherian (or, at any rate, locally noetherian) schemes, but non-noetherian and even non-locally noetherian schemes do turn up.

Another example of a local property is for a scheme to be reduced: this means that none of its rings of sections has any nilpotent element other than zero, or that it is covered by the spectra of reduced rings (viz. rings having no nonzero nilpotent elements).

Here are some local properties of rings:

• Reduced
• Noetherian
• Artinian
• Catenary
• Universally catenary
• Regular
• Cohen-Macaulay
• Krull dimension ≤ d
• Global dimension ≤ d

Properties of the underlying space

Naturally, since a scheme has an underlying topological space, one can also apply to schemes whatever properties apply to topological spaces. For example, one might say of a scheme that it is connected which simply means that the underlying topological space is connected. Things aren't always that simple, however. A scheme is rarely a Hausdorff space. The word separated is used in a way (separated morphism) not familiar from topological separation axioms as conventionally stated.

A scheme X is said to be irreducible when (as a topological space) it is not the union of two closed subsets except if one is equal to X. (Any noetherian scheme can be written uniquely as the union of finitely many irreducible non-empty closed subsets, called its irreducible components.) A scheme that is both reduced and irreducible is called integral; this is equivalent to saying that the scheme is connected and that it covered by the spectra of integral domains (and a ring is an integral domain if and only if its spectrum, an affine scheme, is integral).

Of course, these are only a small subset of what adjectives can be applied to the word "scheme".

For the following definitions, we take as standard notation

f:Y → X

to be a morphism of schemes.

Affine morphism

An affine morphism is one defined by the global Spec construction for sheaves of O_X-Algebras, defined by analogy with the spectrum of a ring.

Closed immersion

A closed immersion morphism is one defined by the vanishing of a global Ideal of O_X-Algebras.

Étale morphism

A morphism f is étale if it is finite, flat and unramified.

Finite morphism

A morphism f is finite if, locally on X, it is represented by an integral extension of commutative rings.

Flat morphism

A morphism f is flat if it gives rise to a flat map on stalks.

Open immersion

A morphism f is an open immersion if locally it is of the form of an inclusion of an affine open subset.

Projective morphism

A morphism f is projective if it is given by the global Proj construction on graded commutative O_X-Algebras.

Proper morphism

A morphism f is proper if it is separated and universally closed (i.e. such that fiber products with it preserve closed immersions). A projective morphism is proper; but the converse is not in general true. See also complete variety.

A deep property of proper morphisms is the existence of a Stein factorization, namely the existence of an intermediate scheme such that a morphism can be expressed as one with connected fibres, followed by a finite morphism.

Separated morphism

A separated morphism is a morphism f such that the fiber product of Y with itself along f has its diagonal as a closed subscheme — in other words, the diagonal map is a closed immersion.

As a consequence, a scheme X is separated when the diagonal of X within the scheme product of X with itself, is a closed immersion. Any affine scheme is separated.

This compares with the criterion (closed diagonal) for a topological space to be Hausdorff; with the usual topological space product used.