Relative vanishing theorems in characteristic \(p\) (Q1815440)

\textit{L. Illusie} [Duke Math. J. 60, No. 1, 139-185 (1990; Zbl 0708.14014)] proved a decomposition theorem of the relative de Rham complex for a morphism \(f:X\to Y\) of smooth schemes defined over a perfect field \(k\) of characteristic \(p>0\), generalizing an earlier result of \textit{P. Deligne} and \textit{L. Illusie} [Invent. Math. 89, 247-270 (1987; Zbl 0632.14017)] which treats the absolute case. He deduced from the theorem several vanishing results for the direct image of line bundles. Let \(f:X\to Y\) be a \(k\)-morphism and \(E\) a vector bundle on \(X\). In this paper we introduce the \(p\)-cohomological dimension relative to \(f\), which will be denoted by \(\text{pcd} (E,f)\), of \(E\). By means of this notion, we extend some of the vanishing theorems obtained by \textit{L. Illusie} (loc. cit.) to the case of higher rank bundles. As in the Illusie-paper, we need the assumption that \(f\) is semistable along a normal crossing divisor \(D_Y \subset Y\) and \(f\) is liftable to \(W_2(k)\), the ring of length two Witt vectors. In section 1, we prove a vanishing of direct image sheaves of vector bundles for a semistable morphism. The cohomology vanishing of the Gauss-Manin systems will be considered in section 2. In section 3, we treat the case of open varieties and generalize a theorem by \textit{I. Bauer} and \textit{S. Kosarew} [in: Prospects in complex geometry, Proc. 25th Int. Tanguchi Symp., Katata 1989, Conf., Kyoto 1989, Lect. Notes Math. 1468, 281-316 (1991; Zbl 0764.14005)] to the relative situation.