Tensor products of affine and formal abelian groups (Q2288206)

Let \(\mathcal C\) be a category with finite products whose category of abelian group objects \(\mathrm{Ab}(\mathcal C)\) has coequalizers, and such that the forgetful functor \(\mathrm{Ab}(\mathcal C)\to\mathcal C\) has a left adjoint. Then, by [\textit{P. G. Goerss}, Contemp. Math. 239, 115--174 (1999; Zbl 0954.55006)], it is known that \(\mathrm{Ab}(\mathcal C)\) has tensor products. Let \(k\) be a perfect field, and let \(\Gamma\) denote its absolute Galois group. Let \(\mathrm{AbSch_k}=\mathrm{Ab}(\mathrm{Sch}_k)\) be the category of abelian affine schemes, and let \(\mathrm{Hopf}_k\), the category of commutative, cocommutative Hopf algebras over \(k\). The first goal of the work under review is to prove that both \(\mathrm{AbSch_k}\) and \(\mathrm{Hopf}_k\) have tensor products. This is done with the help of Goerss's result above, however the proof is not constructive. This leads to the second, larger objective: describing the tensor product in \(\mathrm{AbSch}_k\). The approach depends on the characteristic of \(k\). Suppose \(\mathrm{char}(k)=0\). Then there is a (covariant) categorical equivalence between \(\mathrm{Hopf}_k\) and \(\mathrm{Mod}_{\Gamma}\times \mathrm{Vect}_k\), where as expected \(\mathrm{Mod}_{\Gamma}\) is the category of \(\Gamma\)-modules and \(\mathrm{Vect}_k\) the category of \(k\)-vector spaces. This leads to a contravariant categorical equivalence between \(\mathrm{AbSch}_k\) and \(\mathrm{Mod}_{\Gamma}\times \mathrm{Vect}_k\); if the group schemes \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) correspond to the pairs \((M_1,V_1)\) and \((M_2,V_2)\) respectively, then \(G_1\otimes G_2\) corresponds to \((\mathrm{Tor}^{\mathbb{Z}}(M_1,M_2),V_1\otimes V_2)\). Now suppose \(\mathrm{char}(k)=p>0\), and let \(G_1,G_2\) be abelian affine groups. By splitting each group scheme \(G_i\) into its unipotent and multiplicative components \(G_i^u,G_i^m\) the authors obtain a description of \(G_1\otimes G_2\) in terms of its unipotent and multiplicative factors. The unipotent component of \(G_1\otimes G_2\) corresponds a certain product of the Dieudonné modules of \(G_1^u,G_2^u\). The multiplicative component has a more complicated description, described in terms of a \(\Gamma\)-module.