On the Brauer Group of Toric Varieties (Q4038487)

Let \(X\) be an algebraic variety over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, let \(B(X)\) be the Brauer group of Azumaya algebras on \(X\), and let \(B'(X)\) be the cohomological Brauer group of \(X\), i.e., the torsion subgroup of the second étale cohomology group \(H^ 2(X,G_ m)\) with coefficients in the sheaf of units. The authors study \(B(X)\) and \(B'(X)\) for the case of toric varieties \(X\) [the notation terminology is that of \textit{T. Oda}'s book, ``Convex bodies and algebraic geometry. An introduction to the theory of toric varieties'' (1988; Zbl 0628.52002)]. Let \(N=\mathbb{Z}^ r\) with basis \(n_ 1,\dots,n_ r\), let \(\Delta\) be a finite fan in \(N_ \mathbb{R}\) and let \(X=T_ N(\text{embed} (\Delta))\) be the associated toric variety which contains the torus \(T_ N\) as an open subset. Let \(N'\) be the subgroup of \(N\) generated by \(\bigcup_{\sigma \in \Delta} (\sigma \cap N)\), and write \(N'=\mathbb{Z} a_ 1n_ 1 \oplus \cdots \oplus \mathbb{Z} a_ rn_ r\) where \(a_ 1,\dots,a_ r\) are nonnegative integers with \(a_ 1 \mid a_ 2 \mid \cdots \mid a_ r\). Studying properties of \(X\) leads to the study of properties of \(\Delta\), which in turn leads to questions on sublattices of \(\mathbb{Z}^ r\). The results and also the method of proof of this paper are an application of this philosophy. Thus, the first result (theorem 1.1) states that for a non-singular \(X\) as above \(B(X)=B'(X)\) is the direct sum \(\bigoplus \text{Hom}_{i=1}^{r-1} (\mathbb{Z}/a_ i \mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Q}/ \mathbb{Z})^{r-1}\), and (theorem 1.8) \(B'(X)\) is the subgroup of \(B(T_ N)\) represented by certain algebra classes which can be described explicitly. With regard to the case where \(X\) is singular the authors restrict to the case where the cones of \(\Delta\) are at most two-dimensional. There exists a \(T_ N\)-invariant desingularisation \(\widetilde X \to X\) of \(X\) which is given as a toric variety described by subdivisions of \(\Delta\). The sequence \[ 0 \to B'(T_ N/X) \to B'(X) \to B'(\widetilde X) \to 0 \] is exact (theorem 2.2); thus one has to study \(B'(T_ N/X)\). Let \(\{\tau_ 1,\dots,\tau_ m\}\) be the two-dimensional cones in \(\Delta\), and let \(U_ i\), \(i \in \{1,\dots,m\}\), be the open subsets of \(X\) asscociated to \(\tau_ i\). Then there is another exact sequence \[ 0 \to \text{Pic} (X) \to \text{Cl} (X) \to \bigoplus_{i=1}^ m \text{Cl} (U_ i) \to B'(T_ N/X) \to 0. \] The authors associate to \(\Delta\) a bipartite graph, study its properties, and give, for every prime \(p\), a complete description of \(B'(T_ N/X)_ p\) as a direct sum of some of the groups \(\text{Cl} (U_ i)_ p\). The case of a surface is given special consideration in corollary 2.9.