nLab Abel-Jacobi map

Contents

Context

Complex geometry

Differential cohomology

Contents

Idea

In algebraic/complex geometry The term Abel-Jacobi map refers to various group homomorphisms from certain groups of algebraic cycles to some sorts of Jacobians or generalized Jacobians. Such maps generalize the classical Abel-Jacobi map from points of a complex algebraic curve to its Jacobian, which answers the question of which divisors of degree zero arise from meromorphic functions.

Definition

for curves

Let XX be a smooth projective complex curve. Recall that a Weil divisor on XX is a formal linear combination of closed points. Classically, the Abel-Jacobi map

α:Div 0(X)J(X), \alpha \;\colon\; \Div^0(X) \longrightarrow J(X) ,\,

on the group of Weil divisors of degree zero, is defined by integration. According to Abel's theorem, its kernel consists of the principal divisors, i.e. the ones coming from meromorphic functions.

on Deligne cohomology

The cycle map to de Rham cohomology due to Zein & Zucker (1981) is discussed in Esnault & Viehweg (1988), section 6, the refinement to Deligne cohomology in Esnault & Viehweg (1988), section 6. By the characterization of intermediate Jacobians as subgroups of the Deligne complex (see intermediate Jacobian – characterization as Hodge-trivial Deligne cohomology) this induces a map from cycles to intermediate Jacobians. This is the Abel-Jacobi map (Esnault & Viehweg (1988), theorem 7.11).

on higher Chow groups

An Abel-Jacobi map on higher Chow groups is discussed in K-L-MS 04.

via extensions of mixed Hodge structures

An alternate construction of the Abel-Jacobi map, via Hodge theory, is due to Arapura-Oh. By a theorem of Carlson, the Jacobian is identified with the following group of extensions in the abelian category of mixed Hodge structures:

J(X)=Ext MHS 1(Z(1),H 1(X,Z)) J(X) = Ext^1_{MHS}(\mathbf{Z}(-1), H^1(X, \mathbf{Z}))

where Z(1)\mathbf{Z}(-1) is the Tate Hodge structure. Given a divisor DD of degree zero, one can associate to it a certain class in the above extension group. This gives a map

α:Div 0(X)J(X) \alpha : Div^0(X) \longrightarrow J(X)

which is called the Abel-Jacobi map. The Abel theorem says that its kernel is precisely the subgroup of principal divisors, i.e. divisors which come from invertible rational functions. See (Arapura-Oh, 1997) for details of this construction.

References

Remarks on generalization to the more general context of anabelian geometry are in

Refinement of the Abel-Jacobi map to Hodge filtered differential MU-cobordism cohomology theory:

Introduction and survey:

Last revised on June 9, 2023 at 14:05:27. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.