Algebraic cobordism revisited (Q1016234)

Algebraic cobordism has been constructed by \textit{M. Levine} and \textit{F. Morel} [Algebraic cobordism. Springer Monographs in Mathematics. Berlin: Springer. xii, 244 p. (2007; Zbl 1188.14015)], as an analog in algebraic geometry of Quillen's construction of the cobordism of differential manifolds. Quillen's notion of oriented cohomology formally extends to the category \({\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\) of smooth quasi-projective schemes over a field \(k\), thus giving a universal oriented cohomology theory \(\Omega^*\) on \({\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\). \(\Omega^*\) is constructed as an oriented homology theory \(\Omega_*(X)\) on the category of \(k\)-schemes of finite type. Similarly to the case of complex cobordism one defines the Lazard ring \({\mathbf L}= \Omega^*(\text{Spec }k)\) and shows that \(t\) is generated by elements in nonnegative degree. This construction yields in principle a presentation for algebraic cobordism but the relations are considerably complicated. In this paper the authors follow a different approach to define algebraic cobordism. Let \(X\) be a variety over \(k\) and let \({\mathcal M}(X)\) be the monoid of the isomorphism classes over \(X\) of projective morphisms \(Y\to X\) with \(Y\in{\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\), under the operation defined by the disjoint union of domains. \({\mathcal M}(Y)\) is graded by the dimension of \(Y\). Let \({\mathcal M}(X)^+_*\) denote the graded group completion of \({\mathcal M}(X)\). Alternatively \({\mathcal M}_n(X)^+\) is the free Abelian group generated by morphisms \(f: Y\to X\), with \(Y\) irreducible and of dimension \(n\) over \(k\). Let \[ [f: Y\to X]\in{\mathcal M}_*(X)^+ \] denote the element determined by the morphism \(f\). A morphism \(\pi: Y\to{\mathbb{P}}^1\), with \(Y\in{\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\), is a double point degeneration over \(0\in{\mathbb{P}}^1\) if \(\pi^{-1}(0)\) can be written as \(\pi^{-1}(0)= A\cup B\), where \(A\) and \(B\) are smooth codimension one closed subschemes of \(Y\) intersecting transversally. Let \(Y\in{\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\) be of pure dimension and let \(g: Y\to X\times{\mathbb{P}}^1\) be a projective morphism for which the composition \(\pi= p_2\circ g: Y\to{\mathbb{P}}^1\) is a double point degeneration over \(0\in{\mathbb{P}}^1\). Let \[ [A\to X],\;[B\to X],\;[{\mathbb{P}}(\pi)\to X]\in{\mathcal M}(X)^+ \] be obtained from the fiber \(\pi^{-1}(0)\) and the morphism \(p_1\circ g\). Let \(z\in{\mathbb{P}}^1(k)\) be a regular value of \(n\) and let \(Y_z=\pi^{-1}(z)\). The relation \[ [Y_z\to X]- [A\to X-[B\to X]+ [{\mathbb{P}}(\pi)\to X] \] is called the double point relation associated to \(g\). It depends on \(g\), \(z\) and also on the choice of the decomposition of the fiber \(\pi^{-1}(o)A\cup B\). Let \({\mathcal R}_*(X)\subset{\mathcal M}_*(X)^+\) be the subgroup gnerated by all double point relations over \(X\). \({\mathcal R}_*(X)\) is a graded subgroup of \({\mathcal M}_*(X)^+\) and one defines the double point cobordism \(\omega_*(X)\) as \[ \omega_*(X)={\mathcal M}_*(X)^+/{\mathcal R}_*(X). \] Then the main result of the paper is the following Theorem 1. For \(X\in{\mathbf S}{\mathbf m}_k\) there is a canonical isomorphism \[ \omega_*(X)\simeq \Omega_*(X). \] This result can be viewed as a geometric presentation of \(\Omega_*(X)\) via the simplest possible cobordism. In fact the authors prove a stronger result, giving an isomorphism \(\Omega_*\simeq \Omega_*\) of oriented Borel-Moore functors of geometric type, based on the following Theorem 2. \(\omega_*\) determines an oriented Borel-Moore functor of geometric type. The paper also contains some interesting applications of the double point relations in algebraic cobordism. If \(C\) is a smooth plane curve of genus \(g\) then the relation \([C]= (1- g)[{\mathbb{P}}^1]\) in the coefficient ring \(\Omega_*(k)\) can be proved. Let \(X\) be a \(\mathbb{C}\)-valued function on the set of isomorphism classes of smooth projective varieties over a field \(k\) satisfing the conditions: (i) \(\chi(\text{Speck})= 1\); (ii) \(\chi(X\cup Y)= \chi(X)+ \chi(Y)\); (iii) \(\chi(C)= \chi(A)+ \chi(B)-\chi(A\cap B)\); whenever \(A\), \(B\), \(C\) are smooth divisors in a smooth projective variety \(Y\), such that \(A+ B\sim C\) and \(A\cap B\) is a transverse intersection. Then using Theorem 1 one can prove the following result of Fulton Theorem 3. Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. If \(\chi\) satisfies (i), (ii) and (iii) then \(\chi\) is the sheaf Euler characteristic \[ \chi(Y)\;\sum 0\leq i\leq \dim Y(-1)^i\dim_k H^i(Y,{\mathcal O}_Y). \] Finally double point cobordism is used to prove all the degree 0 conjectures in Donaldson-Thomas theory: absolute, relative and equivariant.