Generalized crossed products and Azumaya algebras (Q2639142)

Let R be a subring of a commutative ring S, and let Br denote the functor which assigns to a commutative ring the Brauer group of equivalence classes of Azumaya algebras over the ring. In terms of Amitsur cohomology, the Teichmüller cocycle map is a homomorphism defined on the cohomology group \(H^ 0(S/R,Br)\). Except when the Picard groups of the tensor powers \(S^ 2\) and \(S^ 3\) of S over R are trivial, a description of the target group for the Teichmüller cocycle map is difficult to give. But this target group is of interest because it is the next term (eighth term) in an extension of the Chase-Rosenberg long exact sequence for the Amitsur cohomology of S over R. The author assumes that S is a Galois extension of R with respect to a commutative Hopf algebra H over R. In this case there is an R-algebra homomorphism \(\alpha\) of S into the tensor product \(S\otimes H\) over R and an induced isomorphism of the S algebras \(S\otimes S\) and \(S\otimes H\). If A is an Azumaya algebra over S, then \(A\otimes H\) is an Azumaya algebra over \(S\otimes H\). But the homomorphism \(\alpha\) may also be used to obtain an Azumaya algebra \(\alpha_*(A)\) over \(S\otimes H\), and \(H^ 0(S/R,Br)\) consists of the classes of algebras A over S such that \(A\otimes H\) and \(\alpha_*(A)\) are equivalent over \(S\otimes H\). A description of the target group for the Teichmüller cocycle map is given in terms of the author's theory of Picard pseudofunctors [J. Algebra 91, 464-498 (1984; Zbl 0554.18005)]. In the course of the paper, the author describes extensions of an R-algebra A, faithfully flat as a left module over A and Galois with respect to the dual Hopf algebra \(H^*\), in terms of invertible \(A\otimes H\)-modules over H. Also, given R-algebra injections: \(S\to A\to D\), the author shows that D is a right \(H^*\)-comodule algebra and it is a Galois extension of A if, and only if, D is an Azumaya algebra over R, D is a projective left module over S, and A is the centralizer of S in D.