On Galois module structure of the cohomology groups of an algebraic variety (Q5916429)

Let k be a field and \(f: X\to Y\) a finite étale Galois covering of projective varieties over k. For a coherent sheaf \({\mathcal F}\) on Y, the group \(G=Gal(X/Y)\) naturally acts on the sheaf \(f^*({\mathcal F})\), and hence the cohomology group \(H^ i(X,f^*({\mathcal F}))\) is a k[G]-module \((i=0,1,2,...)\). We shall investigate the k[G]-module structure of \(H^ i(X,f^*({\mathcal F})).\) Theorem 1. There exists a finite complex of k[G]-modules \((L): 0\to L^ 0\to L^ 1\to...\to L^ m\to 0\) with the following properties: (i) Each \(L^ i\) is a finitely generated free k[G]-module. (ii) The i-th cohomology group of the complex (L) is isomorphic to \(H^ i(X,f^*({\mathcal F}))\) as a k[G]-module \((i=0,1,2,...).\) We can interpret theorem 1 as giving ''one relation'' among k[G]-modules \(H^ i(X,f^*({\mathcal F}))\) \((i=0,1,2,...)\). As a consequence we prove: Theorem 2. Assume \(H^ i(X,f^*({\mathcal F}))=0\) for all indices i except for one value of i, say \(i=n\). Then \(H^ n(X,F^*({\mathcal F}))\) is a free k[G]-module. Theorems 1 and 2 will be proved in {\S} 2. In {\S} 3, we shall apply our results when the dimension of X and Y equals 1. In this case we can determine the k[G]-module structure of \(H^ 0(X,f^*({\mathcal F}))\) when \({\mathcal F}\) is the canonical sheaf of Y (theorem 4). As an application of that, we get some information about the fundamental group of an algebraic curve (theorem 5).