Tuesday, 1 May 2007

ag.algebraic geometry - Is the mapping from a scheme to its global sections a closed map?

[Added: I misread the question, and in fact this answer does not answer the OP's question,
but rather the following question: is phi(T) closed in Spec Gamma(T), which is
a different question. Probably the upvotes can be attributed to the link to the stacks project!]



If T is quasi-affine (i.e. admits an open immersion into affine space),
then the map phi is an open immersion, and in fact Spec Gamma(T)
is the initial object in the category of affine schemes containing T
as an open subscheme.



In particular, in this case phi has closed image
if and only if and only if T is in fact affine. [Added: As Qing Liu points out in a comment below, in this quasi-affine situation, phi is in fact a closed map onto its image.]



Thus if we take T to be mathbbA2ksetminus0 for some
field k, i.e. affine 2-space with the origin removed,
then we get an example of T where this map is open with non-closed
image (since this T is quasi-affine but not affine). Note that
Spec Gamma(T)=mathbbA2k.



(This is a geometric analogue of Qing Lui's more arithmetic example;
what both have in common is that a closed point was removed from a 2-dimensional
affine scheme, so as to make a quasi-affine scheme that is not affine.[Added: I also misread Qing Liu's example; my remark would apply to the affine line over mathbbZ with a closed point removed; Qing's example is more complicated, since it is actually dealing with the OP's question. One can make a geometric analogue of Qing's example by deleting a closed point from mathbbA1timesmathbbP1; more geometrically still, remove one of the lines of a ruling from a projective quadric surface, and then remove an additional point.])



EDIT: In the definition of quasi-affine, one should also require that T
be quasi-compact. (The stacks project
is a terrific resource for these foundational definitions in scheme theory,
particularly with regard to finiteness and separation issues.)



Note that if T is any quasi-compact scheme, then the map Tto Spec Gamma(T) has dense image. (If finGamma(T) and D(f) is the usual affine open in Spec Gamma(T),
i.e. Spec Gamma(T)f, then if phi1(D(f)) is empty, it must be
that f is locally nilpotent on T. Since T is quasi-compact this implies
that f is actually nilpotent, and hence that D(f) is empty.) As Martin notes
in his answer, this is similarly true if T is reduced.



It need not be true if T is non-reduced and non-quasi-compact (since T
may then admit locally nilpotent sections of mathcalOT that are not
globally nilpotent, e.g. T=coprodn Spec k[x]/(xn)).

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