1
$\begingroup$

I'm trying to solve the following problem.

Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve and let $\Omega^1_C$ be the canonical bundle. Show that there is a canonical isomorphism, $H^1(C, \Omega^1_C)\cong\mathbb{C}.$

If I'm not mistaken, it's fairly straightforward to show that $\text{dim }H^1(C, \Omega^1_C)=1$ via the Riemann-Roch theorem. I'm getting a bit stuck with showing the canonical isomorphism however.

My attempt

Since $C$ is projective, we can define a closed embedding $C\hookrightarrow\mathbb{P}^n$. Let $\mathcal{I}_C$ be the corresponding ideal sheaf and consider the conormal short exact sequence $$0\to \mathcal{I}_C/\mathcal{I}_C^2\to \Omega^1_{\mathbb{P}^n}\otimes \mathcal{O}_C\to \Omega^1_C\to 0.$$ This induces a long exact sequence in cohomology $$\cdots\to H^1(C,\mathcal{I}_C/\mathcal{I}_C^2)\to H^1(C, \Omega^1_{\mathbb{P}^n}\otimes \mathcal{O}_C)\to H^1(C,\Omega^1_C)\to H^2(C,\mathcal{I}_C/\mathcal{I}_C^2)\to \cdots $$ But $ H^2(C,\mathcal{I}_C/\mathcal{I}_C^2)$ vanishes (along with all other higher terms) for dimension reasons. Furthermore, I think I can show that $H^1(C, \Omega^1_{\mathbb{P}^n}\otimes \mathcal{O}_C)\cong \mathbb{C}$ via an Euler sequence argument.

If I could also show that $H^1(C,\mathcal{I}_C/\mathcal{I}_C^2)=0$ then I would be done, but it's this part I'm stuck on. I thought perhaps of using Serre duality but I didn't have much success.

Any help is much appreciated!

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

3
$\begingroup$

This is a direct consequence of Serre duality: $$H^1(C, \Omega^1_C) \cong H^0(C, \mathcal{O}_C)^{\vee} \cong \mathbb{C}$$ where the last isomorphism comes from the projectivity of $C$. The duality pairing also gives you that the isomorphism is canonical.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Ahh thank you, it looks like I was massively overcomplicating this. I'm still confused as to why the last isomorphism is canonical though? $\endgroup$
    – Rob Maher
    Commented Jun 8, 2021 at 14:43
  • $\begingroup$ It comes from the canonical morphism $\mathbb{C}\rightarrow \mathrm{Hom}(\mathcal{O}_C,\mathcal{O}_C)$. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 8, 2021 at 22:46

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .