On the Brauer group of a localization (Q1188145)

Let \(X\) be a smooth integral variety over the algebraically closed field \(k\), where \(k\) has characteristic 0. We denote by \(B'(X)\) the cohomological Brauer group of \(X\), i.e., the torsion subgroup of \(H^ 2(X,G_ m)\), where \(G_ m\) denotes the sheaf of units. Let \(Y\) be a closed subvariety (not necessarily integral) of \(X\) of pure codimension 1. We intend to study the Brauer group of \(X-Y\). Lemma 0.1. There is an exact sequence \[ 0 \to B'(X) \to B'(X-Y) \to H^ 3_ Y(X,\mu) \to H^ 3(X,\mu) \to H^ 3(X-Y,\mu) \to \cdots, \] where \(\mu\) denotes the sheaf of roots of unity. The purpose of theorem 1.1 is to give a description of the mysterious group \(H^ 3_ Y (X,\mu)\) in terms of the divisor \(Y\). The rest of this paper consists of applications of theorem 1.1. In section 2 we show how the graph associated to a curve on a surface can be used to simplify computations in the Brauer group. In section 3 we apply corollary 1.6 to show some connections between the Brauer groups and the geometry of divisors on \(X\).