assigns to each object a collection of families of morphisms
called coverings, such that:
Identity.For every , the singleton family
lies in .
Base‐change stability.If
is any arrow, then the pullback family
lies in .
Transitivity.If
then the composed family
lies in .
Equivalently, is a Grothendieck pretopology on .
Example of a Site
Consider the coslice category .
Define
Here means in set theory.
One checks easily that this defines a Grothendieck topology.
Using covering in this site to define algebraic extension.
Definition and Proposition. An equivalent definition of algebraic extension via covering.
Let be a field extension, then is an algebraic extension iff could be covered by a family of finite extension. i.e.
We have:
Proof.
If is an algebraic extension, then is such a covering in .
Conversely, assume for each , we could find a such that . Then is algebraic since it lies in an algebraic extension.
The Site we will use
Consider the coslice category .
Let us define now.
Definition and Proposition.
Let be a field extension
Here means in set theory.
Proof.
Let us check the axiom of covering.
Identity.
If then clearly we have .
Base Change.
If . Then we have .
Hence we have since we have and for any finite such that , there exits , hence .
Transitivity.
If
Easy to see that we have
For any two elements set , . Now let , then .
Hence is a covering, form a site.
Sheaf over Site
Definition.
Let be any site. A valued presheaf is called a sheaf if for every covering family
the diagram
is an equalizer. Here .
Remark. I would like to add more explanation for this definition.
Firstly,
The locally property of sheaf comes from the equalizer arrow is injective. Hence we have:
The gluing property comes from, let , if
then by the universal property of equalizer, there exists unique such that .
Main Result: is a Sheaf
as presheaf
Before we check the sheaf condition, we need to explain why is a group valued presheaf.
Firstly, we know that for each object in , is a group. For a field extension , we have the natural restriction map
Hence it is a presheaf.
The Sheaf Condition
Now let us check the sheaf condition. Let , then we need to check the equalizer diagram as follows:
Firstly, , hence we have .
We check locally and gluing condition.
Locally.
Let be two elements in , then if for all , we have , since . Hence .
Gluing.
Assume that we have a family such that for all . Then we define whenever . Compatibility on overlaps ensures this is uniquely well–defined. Also, is bijective on since is bijective and .
Now we need to check that . Firstly, .
For . Hence , we have . Similarly we have . Therefore, we have