Lie-Rinehart cohomology and integrable connections on modules of rank one (Q848522)

A Lie-Rinehart algebra is the algebraic version of a Lie algebroid. Let \(R\) be a commutative algebra over a field \(k\). By definition, a \textit{Lie-Rinehart algebra} over \(R\) is a \(k\)-Lie algebra \({\mathcal L}\) together with an \(R\)-module structure on \({\mathcal L}\) and a map \[ \alpha:{\mathcal L}\to\text{Der}(R) \] which is simultaneously a homomorphism of Lie algebras and of \(R\)-modules such that \[ [X,aY]=a[X,Y]+\alpha(X)(a)Y \] for all \(X,Y\in{\mathcal L}\) and \(a\in R\). The most prominent (algebraic) geometric example of a Lie-Rinehart algebra is the Lie algebra of regular vector fields on a smooth algebraic variety, the most prominent algebraic example is the Lie algebra \(\text{Der}(R)\) itself. For another \(R\)-module \(M\), one speaks of an action of \({\mathcal L}\) on \(M\) in case there is a \(k\)-Lie algebra action of \({\mathcal L}\) on \(M\) which has the \(A\)-linearity properties of a connection. In the special case where \(R\) is the algebra of regular functions on a smooth algebraic variety \(V\), \({\mathcal L}\) is the Lie algebra of regular vector fields on \(V\) and \(M\) is the space of sections of a vector bundle \(E\) on \(V\), a connection on \(E\) gives rise to such an action. Using this notion of \({\mathcal L}\)-module, there is then a cohomology theory \(H^*_{\text{Rin}}\) of Lie-Rinehart algebras which is very close to Chevalley-Eilenberg cohomology of Lie algebras, the only difference being the \(R\)-linearity of the cochains (instead of the \(k\)-linearity of the Chevalley-Eilenberg cochains). In this sense, Lie-Rinehart cohomology of Lie algebras of vector fields is closer to de Rham cohomology than to Gelfand-Fuchs cohomology. The authors of the present article study the low degree Lie-Rinehart cohomology of \(\text{Der}(R)\) with values in \(\text{End}_R(M)\) for some rank one \(R\)-module \(M\) and for \(R\) representing an isolated singularity. They obtain the following results. First of all, if \(M\) admits an \({\mathcal L}\)-connection, there is a canonical class in \(H^2_{\text{Rin}}({\mathcal L},\text{End}_R(M))\), the \textit{integrability class}, which vanishes if and only if \(M\) admits an integrable connection. This follows rather easily translating the cocycle identity into Bianchi identity and the coboundary identity into integrability of the connection. It is then \(H^1_{\text{Rin}}({\mathcal L},\text{End}_R(M))\) which classifies the integrable connections. After a study of the case of a curve singularity, the authors go on to dimension \(\geq 2\). They specify in this case (assuming furthermore \(R\) finitely generated Cohen-Macaulay) the \(5\)-term exact sequence arising from the hypercohomology spectral sequence obtained from sheafifying the Lie-Rinehart complex. They show some examples where the terms are accessible. The main point of interest in the article is the wealth of explicit examples illustrating the previously mentioned results and the relevance of low degree Lie-Rinehart cohomology to characterize the singularity.