Given an algebraic stack with quasiaffine diagonal, we show that each G_m-gerbe comes from a central separable algebra. In other words, Taylor's bigger Brauer group equals the etale cohomology in degree two with coefficients in G_m. This gives new results also for schemes. We use the method of twisted sheaves explored by de Jong and Lieblich.
I show that each etale n-cohomology class on noetherian schemes comes from a Cech cocycle, provided that any n-tuple of points admits an affine open neighborhood. Together with results of Raeburn and Taylor on the bigger Brauer group, this implies that for schemes such that each pair of points admits an affine open neighborhood, any etale G_m-gerbe comes from a central separable algebra. Such algebras are nonunital generalizations of Azumaya algebras. I also prove that, on normal noetherian schemes, each Zariski G_m-gerbe comes from a central separable algebra.
We classify absolutely split vector bundles on proper $k$-schemes. More precise, we prove that the closed points of the Picard scheme are in one-to-one correspondence with indecomposable absolutely split vector bundles. Furthermore, we apply the obtained results to study the geometry of (generalized) Brauer--Severi varieties.
Let U^{'s}_{L}(n,d) be the moduli space of stable vector bundles of rank $n$ and fixed determinant L of degree d on a nodal curve Y. The moduli space of semistable vector bundles of rank n and degree $d$ will be denoted by U'_Y(n,d). We calculate the Brauer groups of U^{'s}_{L}(n,d)$. We study the question of rationality of $U^{'s}_{L}(n,d)$ and $U'_Y(n,d)$.
We prove that the Brauer group of TMF is isomorphic to the Brauer group of the derived moduli stack of elliptic curves. Then, we compute the local Brauer group, i.e., the subgroup of the Brauer group of elements trivialized by some étale cover of the moduli stack, up to a finite 2-torsion group.
It is well known that the category of quasi-coherent sheaves on a gerbe banded by a diagonalizable group decomposes according to the characters of the group. We establish the corresponding decomposition of the unbounded derived category of complexes of sheaves with quasi-coherent cohomology. This generalizes earlier work by Lieblich for gerbes over schemes whereas our gerbes may live over arbitrary algebraic stacks. By combining this decomposition with the semi-orthogonal decomposition for a projectivized vector bundle, we deduce a semi-orthogonal decomposition of the derived category of a fam…
We use twisted sheaves to study the problem of index reduction for Brauer classes. In general terms, this problem may be phrased as follows: given a field $k$, a $k$-variety $X$, and a class $α\in \Br(k)$, compute the index of the class $α_{k(X)} \in \Br(X)$ obtained from $α$ by extension of scalars to $k(X)$. We give a general method for computing index reduction which refines classical results of Schofield and van den Bergh. When $X$ is a curve of genus 1, we use Atiyah's theorem on the structure of stable vector bundles with integral slope to show that our formula simplifies dramatically, g…
We study twisted vector bundles of infinite rank on gerbes, giving a new spin on Grothendieck's famous problem on the equality of the Brauer group and cohomological Brauer group. We show that the relaxed version of the question has an affirmative answer in many, but not all, cases, including for any algebraic space with the resolution property and any algebraic space obtained by pinching two closed subschemes of a projective scheme. We also discuss some possible theories of infinite rank Azumaya algebras, consider a new class of "very positive" infinite rank vector bundles on projective variet…
We study the question of whether the Brauer group is isomorphic to the cohomological one in spectral algebraic geometry. For this, we prove the compact generation of the derived category of twisted sheaves for quasi-compact spectral algebraic stacks with quasi-affine diagonal, which admit a quasi-finite presentation; in particular, we obtain the compact generation of the unbounded derived category of quasi-coherent sheaves and the existence of compact perfect complexes with prescribed support for such stacks. We also study the relationship between derived and spectral algebraic stacks, so that…
We use an idea of Rosenberg to prove a reconstruction theorem for abelian categories of alpha-twisted quasi-coherent sheaves on quasi-compact and quasi-separated schemes X when alpha is in the Brauer group of X. By applying the work of Toën on derived Azumaya algebras, we give a proof of Căldăraru's conjecture.
We study the geometry of exceptional loci of birational contractions of hyper-Kähler fourfolds that are of K3$^{[2]}$-type. These loci are conic bundles over K3 surfaces and we determine their classes in the Brauer group. For this we use the results on twisted sheaves on K3 surfaces, on contractions and on the corresponding Heegner divisors. For a general K3 surface of fixed degree there are three (T-equivalence) classes of order two Brauer group elements. The elements in exactly two of these classes are represented by conic bundles on such fourfolds. We also discuss various examples of such c…
We give a generalization of Gabriel's Theorem on coherent sheaves to the case of coherent twisted sheaves on a smooth variety X over a field k. We show that the category Coh(X,α) determines the scheme structure of X for αin the Brauer group of X, and that any equivalence between Coh(X,α) and Coh(Y,β) induces an isomorphism between X and Y. In conclusion we prove the saturatedness of D^b(X,α).
We use twisted sheaves and their moduli spaces to study the Brauer group of a scheme. In particular, we (1) show how twisted methods can be efficiently used to re-prove the basic facts about the Brauer group and cohomological Brauer group (including Gabber's theorem that they coincide for a separated union of two affine schemes), (2) give a new proof of de Jong's period-index theorem for surfaces over algebraically closed fields, and (3) prove an analogous result for surfaces over finite fields. We also include a reduction of all period-index problems for Brauer groups of function fields over …
We derive a formula for the unramified Brauer group of a general class of rationally connected fourfolds birational to conic bundles over smooth threefolds. We produce new examples of conic bundles over P^3 where this formula applies and which have nontrivial unramified Brauer group. The construction uses the theory of contact surfaces and, at least implicitly, matrix factorizations and symmetric arithmetic Cohen--Macaulay sheaves, as well as the geometry of special arrangements of rational curves in P^2. We also prove the existence of universally CH_0-trivial resolutions for the general class…
We prove duality theorems for the {é}tale cohomology of logarithmic Hodge-Witt sheaves and split tori on smooth curves over a local field of positive characteristic. As an application, we obtain a description of the Brauer group of the function fields of curves over local fields in terms of the characters of the idele groups. We also show that the classical Brauer-Manin pairing between the Brauer and Picard groups of smooth projective curves over local fields has analogues for arbitrary smooth curves, smooth projective curves with modulus and singular projective curves over such fields.
In general, if M is a moduli space of stable sheaves on X, there is a unique alpha in the Brauer group of M such that a pi_M^* alpha^{-1}-twisted universal sheaf exists on X times M. In this paper we study the situation when X and M are K3 surfaces, and we identify alpha in terms of Mukai's map between the cohomology of X and of M (defined by means of a quasi-universal sheaf). We prove that the derived category of sheaves on X and the derived category of alpha-twisted sheaves on M are equivalent. This suggests a conjecture which describes, in terms of Hodge isometries of lattices, when derived…
This paper is dedicated to a further study of derived Azumaya algebras. The first result we obtain is a Beauville-Laszlo-style property for such objects (considered up to Morita equivalence), which is consequence of a more general Beauville-Laszlo kind of statement for quasi-coherent sheaves of categories. Next, we prove that given any (derived) scheme $X$, proper over the spectrum of a quasi-excellent Henselian ring, the derived Brauer group of $X$ injects into the one of the Henselization of $X$ along the base, generalizing a classical result of Grothendieck and a more recent theorem of Geis…
We provide a definition of Tanaka-Thomas's Vafa-Witten invariants for étale gerbes over smooth projective surfaces using the moduli spaces of $μ_r$-gerbe twisted sheaves and Higgs sheaves. Twisted sheaves and their moduli are naturally used to study the period-index theorem for the corresponding $μ_r$-gerbe in the Brauer group of the surfaces. Deformation and obstruction theory of the twisted sheaves and Higgs sheaves behave like general sheaves and Higgs sheaves. We define virtual fundamental classes on the moduli spaces and define the twisted Vafa-Witten invariants using virtual localization…
