Cohomology with compact support

{{No footnotes|date=December 2023}}

In mathematics, cohomology with compact support refers to certain cohomology theories, usually with some condition requiring that cocycles should have compact support.

Singular cohomology with compact support

Let X be a topological space. Then

:\displaystyle H_c^\ast(X;R) := \varinjlim_{K\subseteq X \,\text{compact}} H^\ast(X,X\setminus K;R)

By definition, this is the cohomology of the sub–chain complex C_c^\ast(X;R) consisting of all singular cochains \phi: C_i(X;R)\to R that have compact support in the sense that there exists some compact K\subseteq X such that \phi vanishes on all chains in X\setminus K.

Functorial definition

Let X be a topological space and p:X\to \star the map to the point. Using the direct image and direct image with compact support functors p_*,p_!:\text{Sh}(X)\to \text{Sh}(\star)=\text{Ab}, one can define cohomology and cohomology with compact support of a sheaf of abelian groups \mathcal{F} on X as

:\displaystyle H^i(X,\mathcal{F})\ = \ R^ip_*\mathcal{F},

:\displaystyle H^i_c(X,\mathcal{F})\ = \ R^ip_!\mathcal{F}.

Taking for \mathcal{F} the constant sheaf with coefficients in a ring R recovers the previous definition.

de Rham cohomology with compact support for smooth manifolds

Given a manifold X, let \Omega^k_{\mathrm c}(X) be the real vector space of k-forms on X with compact support, and d be the standard exterior derivative. Then the de Rham cohomology groups with compact support H^q_{\mathrm c}(X) are the homology of the chain complex (\Omega^\bullet_{\mathrm c}(X),d):

:0 \to \Omega^0_{\mathrm c}(X) \to \Omega^1_{\mathrm c}(X) \to \Omega^2_{\mathrm c}(X) \to \cdots

i.e., H^q_{\mathrm c}(X) is the vector space of closed q-forms modulo that of exact q-forms.

Despite their definition as the homology of an ascending complex, the de Rham groups with compact support demonstrate covariant behavior; for example, given the inclusion mapping j for an open set U of X, extension of forms on U to X (by defining them to be 0 on XU) is a map j_*: \Omega^\bullet_{\mathrm c}(U) \to \Omega^\bullet_{\mathrm c}(X) inducing a map

:j_*: H^q_{\mathrm c}(U) \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(X).

They also demonstrate contravariant behavior with respect to proper maps - that is, maps such that the inverse image of every compact set is compact. Let f: YX be such a map; then the pullback

:f^*:

\Omega^q_{\mathrm c}(X) \to \Omega^q_{\mathrm c}(Y)

\sum_I g_I \, dx_{i_1} \wedge \ldots \wedge dx_{i_q} \mapsto

\sum_I(g_I \circ f) \, d(x_{i_1} \circ f) \wedge \ldots \wedge d(x_{i_q} \circ f)

induces a map

:H^q_{\mathrm c}(X) \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(Y).

If Z is a submanifold of X and U = XZ is the complementary open set, there is a long exact sequence

:\cdots \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(U) \overset{j_*}{\longrightarrow} H^q_{\mathrm c}(X) \overset{i^*}{\longrightarrow} H^q_{\mathrm c}(Z) \overset{\delta}{\longrightarrow} H^{q+1}_{\mathrm c}(U) \to \cdots

called the long exact sequence of cohomology with compact support. It has numerous applications, such as the Jordan curve theorem, which is obtained for X = R² and Z a simple closed curve in X.

De Rham cohomology with compact support satisfies a covariant Mayer–Vietoris sequence: if U and V are open sets covering X, then

:\cdots \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(U \cap V) \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(U)\oplus H^q_{\mathrm c}(V) \to H^q_{\mathrm c}(X) \overset{\delta}{\longrightarrow} H^{q+1}_{\mathrm c}(U\cap V) \to \cdots

where all maps are induced by extension by zero is also exact.

See also

References

{{no footnotes|date=March 2016}}

  • {{Citation | last1=Iversen | first1=Birger | title=Cohomology of sheaves | publisher=Springer-Verlag | location=Berlin, New York | series=Universitext | isbn=978-3-540-16389-3 | mr=842190 | year=1986}}
  • {{Citation | author = Raoul Bott and Loring W. Tu | title=Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology |publisher=Springer-Verlag | series=Graduate Texts in Mathematics | year=1982 }}
  • {{cite web |title=Cohomology with support and Poincare duality |url=https://math.stackexchange.com/q/2732445 |website=Stack Exchange }}

Category:Cohomology theories