Let $R$ be a commutative ring. An Azumaya coring consists of a couple $(S,\Cc)$, with $S$ a faithfully flat commutative $R$-algebra, and an $S$-coring $\Cc$ satisfying certain properties. If $S$ is faithfully projective, then the dual of $\Cc$ is an Azumaya algebra. Equivalence classes of Azumaya corings form an abelian group, called the Brauer group of Azumaya corings. This group is canonically isomorphic to the second flat cohomology group. We also give algebraic interpretations of the second Amitsur cohomology group and the first Villamayor-Zelinsky cohomology group in terms of corings.
We attach to any commutative ring R a subgroup of the Brauer group of R, called the Brauer-Galois group of R. Its elements are the classes of the Azumaya R-algebras which can be represented, via Brauer equivalence, by a Galois extension of R. We compute this group for some particular commutative fields.
We introduce the notion of Azumaya object in general homotopy-theoretic settings. We give a self-contained account of Azumaya objects and Brauer groups in bicategorical contexts, generalizing the Brauer group of a commutative ring. We go on to describe triangulated bicategories and prove a characterization theorem for Azumaya objects therein. This theory applies to give a homotopical Brauer group for derived categories of rings and ring spectra. We show that the homotopical Brauer group of an Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum is isomorphic to the homotopical Brauer group of its underlying commutativ…
The differential Brauer monoid of a differential commutative ring R s defined. Its elements are the isomorphism classes of differential Azumaya R algebras with operation from tensor product subject to the relation that two such algebras are equivalent if matrix algebras over them are differentially isomorphic. The Bauer monoid, which is a group, is the same thing without the differential requirement. The differential Brauer monoid is then determined from the Brauer monoids of R and its ring of constants and the submonoid whose underlying Azumaya algebras are matrix rings.
Generalizing a theorem of Albert, Saltman showed that an Azumaya algebra $A$ over a ring represents a $2$-torsion class in the Brauer group if and only if there is an algebra $A'$ in the Brauer class of $A$ admitting an involution of the first kind. Knus, Parimala, and Srinivas later showed that one can choose $A'$ such that $\mathrm{deg}\, A'=2\mathrm{deg}\, A$. We show that $2\mathrm{deg}\, A$ is the lowest degree one can expect in general. Specifically, we construct an Azumaya algebra $A$ of degree $4$ and period $2$ such that the degree of any algebra $A'$ in the Brauer class of $A$ admitt…
The main theorem (Theorem 4.1) of this paper claims that any ring morphism from an Azumaya algebra of constant rank over a commutative ring to another one of the same constant rank and over a reduced commutative ring induces a ring morphism between the centers of these algebras. The second main theorem (Theorem 5.3) implies (through its Corollary 5.4) that a ring morphism between two Azumaya algebras of the same constant rank is an isomorphism if and only if it induces an isomorphism between their centers. As preliminary to these theorems we also prove a theorem (Theorem 2.8) describing the Br…
We investigate a notion of Azumaya algebras in the context of structured ring spectra and give a definition of Brauer groups. We investigate their Galois theoretic properties, and discuss examples of Azumaya algebras arising from Galois descent and cyclic algebras. We construct examples that are related to topological Hochschild cohomology of group ring spectra and we present a K(n)-local variant of the notion of Brauer groups.
We describe the derived Picard group of an Azumaya algebra A on an affine scheme X in terms of global sections of the constant sheaf of integers on X, the Picard group of X, and the stabilizer of the Brauer class of A under the action of Aut(X). In particular, we find that the derived Picard group of an Azumaya algebra is generally not isomorphic to that of the underlying scheme. In the case of the trivial Azumaya algebra, our result refines Yekutieli's description of the derived Picard group of a commutative algebra. We also get, as a corollary, an alternate proof of a result of Antieau which…
Let $A$ be a sheaf of Azumaya algebras over a Noetherian base $S$. In this paper we describe using generalized Severi-Brauer varieties, a quasi-projective moduli space parametrizing sheaves of ètale subalgebras of $A$. In the case that $S$ is the spectrum of a field, we study the geometry of this moduli space, and show that in certain cases it is a rational variety.
In this paper, we study Azumaya algebras and Brauer groups in derived algebraic geometry. We establish various fundamental facts about Brauer groups in this setting, and we provide a computational tool, which we use to compute the Brauer group in several examples. In particular, we show that the Brauer group of the sphere spectrum vanishes, and we use this to prove two uniqueness theorems for the stable homotopy category. Our key technical results include the local geometricity, in the sense of Artin n-stacks, of the moduli space of perfect modules over a smooth and proper algebra, the étale l…
We consider the Brauer group ${\rm BM}'(k,G)$ of a group $G$ (finite or infinite) over a commutative ring $k$ with identity. A split exact sequence $$1\longrightarrow {\rm Br}'(k)\longrightarrow {\rm BM}'(k,G)\longrightarrow {\rm Gal}(k,G) \longrightarrow 1$$ is obtained. This generalizes the Fröhlich-Wall exact sequence from the case of a field to the case of a commutative ring, and generalizes the Picco-Platzeck exact sequence from the finite case of $G$ to the infinite case of $G$. Here ${\rm Br}'(k)$ is the Brauer-Taylor group of Azumaya algebras (not necessarily with unit). The method dev…
The Artin-Schreier polynomial $Z^p - Z - a$ is very well known. Polynomials of this type describe all degree $p$ (cyclic) Galois extensions over any commutative ring of characteristic $p$. Equally attractive is the associated Galois action. If $θ$ is a root then $σ(θ) = θ+ 1$ generates the Galois group. Less well known, but equally general, is the so called "differential crossed product" Azumaya algebra generated by $x,y$ subject to the relation $xy - yx = 1$. In characteristic $p$ these algebras are always Azumaya and algebras of this sort generate the $p$ torsion subgroup of the Brauer group…
We consider the general circumstance of an Azumaya algebra $A$ of degree $n$ over a locally ringed topos $(\mathbf{X}, {\mathcal{O}}_{\mathbf{ X}})$ where the latter carries a (possibly trivial) involution, denoted $λ$. This generalizes the usual notion of involutions of Azumaya algebras over schemes with involution, which in turn generalizes the notion of involutions of central simple algebras. We provide a criterion to determine whether two Azumaya algebras with involutions extending $λ$ are locally isomorphic, describe the equivalence classes obtained by this relation, and settle the questi…
We prove that Toen's secondary Grothendieck ring is isomorphic to the Grothendieck ring of smooth proper pretriangulated dg categories previously introduced by Bondal, Larsen and Lunts. Along the way, we show that those short exact sequences of dg categories in which the first term is smooth proper and the second term is proper are necessarily split. As an application, we prove that the canonical map from the derived Brauer group to the secondary Grothendieck ring has the following injective properties: in the case of a commutative ring of characteristic zero, it distinguishes between dg Azuma…
Let k be a base commutative ring, R a commutative ring of coefficients, X a quasi-compact quasi-separated k-scheme, A a sheaf of Azumaya algebras over X of rank r, and Hmo(R) the category of noncommutative motives with R-coefficients. Assume that 1/r belongs to R. Under this assumption, we prove that the noncommutative motives with R-coefficients of X and A are isomorphic. As an application, we show that all the R-linear additive invariants of X and A are exactly the same. Examples include (nonconnective) algebraic K-theory, cyclic homology (and all its variants), topological Hochschild homolo…
Let S be a commutative ring, Q a group that acts on S, and let R be the subring of S fixed under Q. A Q-normal S-algebra consists of a central S-algebra A and a homomorphism s from Q to the group Out(A) of outer automorphisms of A that lifts the Q-action on S. We associate to a Q-normal S-algebra (A,s) a crossed 2-fold extension which, in turn, represents a class, the Teichmueller class of (A,s), in the third cohomology group of Q with coefficients in the group U(S) of units of S, endowed with the obvious Q-module structure. Suitable equivalence classes of Q-normal Azumaya S-algebras constitut…
