Finiteness is not a local property

In this post, we consider the following question:

Question. Let A be a Noetherian ring, and M and A-module. If M_\mathfrak p is a finite A_\mathfrak p-module for all primes \mathfrak p \subseteq A, is M finite?

That is, is finiteness a local property?

For the statement where local means the property is true on a cover by Zariski opens, see Tag 01XZ. Some properties (e.g. flatness) can also be checked at the level of local rings; however, we show that this is not true for finiteness.

Example 1. Let A = \mathbb Z, and let M = \bigoplus_{p \text{ prime}} \mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z. Then M_{(p)} = \mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z, because localisation commutes with direct sums and (\mathbb Z/q\mathbb Z)_{(p)} = 0 if q \neq p is prime. Thus, M_{(p)} is finitely generated for all primes p. Finally, M_{(0)} = 0, because M is torsion. But M is obviously not finitely generated.

Example 2. Again, let A = \mathbb Z, and let M \subseteq \mathbb Q be the subgroup of fractions \frac{a}{b} with \gcd(a,b) = 1 such that b is squarefree. This is a subgroup because \frac{a}{b} + \frac{c}{d} can be written with denominator \lcm(b,d), and that number is squarefree if b and d are. Clearly M is not finitely generated, because the denominators can be arbitrarily large. But M_{(0)} = \mathbb Q, which is finitely generated over \mathbb Q. If p is a prime, then M_{(p)} \subseteq \mathbb Z_{(p)} is the submodule \frac{1}{p}\mathbb Z_{(p)}, which is finitely generated over \mathbb Z_{(p)}.

Another way to write M is \sum_{p \text{ prime}} \frac{1}{p}\mathbb Z \subseteq \mathbb Q.

Remark. The second example shows that over a PID, the property that M is free of rank 1 can not be checked at the stalks. Of course it can be if M is finitely generated, for then M is finite projective [Tag 00NX] of rank 1, hence free since A is a PID.

Higher pushforwards along finite morphisms

This post is about one of my favourite answers I have given on MathOverflow, although it seems to have gone by mostly unnoticed. In the post, Qixiao asks (essentially) the following:

Question. If f \colon X \to Y is a finite morphism of schemes, is the pushforward f_* \colon \Sh(X) \to \Sh(Y) exact?

Note that this is true on the subcategory of quasicoherent sheaves because affine morphisms have no quasicoherent higher pushforwards. Also, in the étale topology the pushforward along a finite morphism is exact on the category of all abelian sheaves; see e.g. Tag 03QP.

However, we show that the answer to the question above is negative.

Example. Let Y be the spectrum of a DVR (R,\mathfrak m), let R \to S be a finite extension of domains such that S has exactly two primes \mathfrak p, \mathfrak q above \mathfrak m, and let X = \Spec S. For example, R = \Z_{(5)} and S = \Z_{(5)}[i], or R = k[x]_{(x)} and S = k[x]_{(x)}[\sqrt{x+1}] if you prefer a more geometric example.

By my previous post, the global sections functor \Gamma \colon \Sh(Y) \to \Ab is exact. If the same were true for f_* \colon \Sh(X) \to \Sh(Y), then the global sections functor on X would be exact as well. Thus, it suffices to prove that this is not the case, i.e. to produce a surjection \mathscr F \to \mathscr G of sheaves on X such that the map on global sections is not surjective.

The topological space of X consists of closed points x,y and a generic point \eta. Let U = \{\eta\} and Z = U^{\operatorname{c}} = \{x,y\}; then U is open and Z is closed. Hence, for any sheaf \mathscr F on X, we have a short exact sequence (see e.g. Tag 02UT)

    \[0 \to j_! (\mathscr F|_U) \to \mathscr F \to i_* (\mathscr F|_Z) \to 0,\]

where j \colon U \to X and i \colon Z \to X are the inclusions. Let \mathscr F be the constant sheaf \Z; then the same goes for \mathscr F|_U and \mathscr F|_Z. Then the map

    \[H^0(X,\mathscr F) \to H^0(X,i_*(\mathscr F|_Z)) = H^0(Z,\mathscr F|_Z)\]

is given by the diagonal map \Z \to \Z \oplus \Z, since X is connected by Z has two connected components. This is visibly not surjective. \qedsymbol

Cohomology of a local scheme

This is a continuation of my previous post on local schemes. Here is a ridiculous lemma.

Lemma. Let (X,x) be a local scheme, and let \mathscr F be any abelian sheaf on X. Then H^i(X,\mathscr F) = 0 for all i > 0.

Proof. It suffices to show that the global sections functor \Gamma \colon \Sh(X) \to \Ab is exact. Let \mathscr F \to \mathscr G be a surjection of abelian sheaves on X, and let s \in \mathscr G(X) be a global section. Then s can be lifted to a section of \mathscr F in an open neighbourhood U of x. But the only open neighbourhood of x is X. Thus, s can be lifted to a section of \mathscr F(X). \qedsymbol

What’s going on is that the functors \mathscr F \mapsto \Gamma(X,\mathscr F) and \mathscr F \mapsto \mathscr F_x are naturally isomorphic, due to the absence of open neighbourhoods of x.

Remark. It seems believable that there are suitable site-theoretic versions of this lemma as well. For example, a strictly Henselian local ring has no higher cohomology in the étale topology. The argument is essentially the same: every open neighbourhood of the closed point has a section; see e.g. the proof of Tag 03QO.