Glam Prestige Journal

Bright entertainment trends with youth appeal.

$\begingroup$

I want to get an intuition for the Euler sequence, by understanding the explicit construction of maps between terms. I prefer to use this version:$$ 0 \longrightarrow \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n} \longrightarrow \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n}(1)^{\oplus(n+1)} \longrightarrow T\mathbb{P}^n \longrightarrow 0 $$rather than its dual or any twisted version

Conventions:$[x_0 : x_1 : \dots :x_n]$ are projective coordinates on $\mathbb{P}^n$. I will slightly abuse notation and describe sections of degree $d$ line bundles with the same notation, e.g. $x_0^d + 2x_1^{d-1}x_2$ is a section of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n}(d)$.

First map

If $c$ is a locally constant function on $\mathbb{P}^n$, then
$$ f: \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n} \longrightarrow \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n}(1)^{\oplus(n+1)}, \quad c \mapsto (c\cdot x_0, c \cdot x_1, \dots, x_n) $$i.e. multiplication the linear monomials by $c$ (which is usually taken to be 1).

Second map

For a set of linear (homogeneous degree 1) functions $l_i(x)$, $i=0,\dots,n$ on $\mathbb{P}^n$, we have$$ g: \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n}(1)^{\oplus(n+1)} \longrightarrow T\mathbb{P}^n , \\ (l_0(x), l_1(x), \dots, l_n(x)) \longmapsto l_0(x) \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_0} + l_1(x) \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_1} + \dots + l_n(x) \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_n} $$

Showing $\mathrm{im}(f) = \mathrm{ker}(g)$

If we apply $(g\circ f)$ onto our locally constant $c$, we arrive at the vector$$ c \cdot x_0 \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_0} + c \cdot x_1 \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_1} + \dots + c \cdot x_n \frac{\partial\,}{\partial x_n}, $$which is known as the "Euler vector field" or EVF (or at least, it is $c$ times the usual definition of the EVF). It should be straightforward to see that the EVF acting on a homogeneous polynomial $q(x)$ of degree $d$ will return $d \cdot q(x)$. In particular, if $q$ is homogeneous of degree $0$, i.e. constant, then the EVF($q$) returns 0.

This is where my understanding gets a little shaky:

  • The above makes sense, but the statement I see in the literature jumps from saying "the EVF annihlates degree 0 functions" to saying that "the EVF is the kernel of $g$" and concluding the description. This is a little hard for me to parse, because I feel $\mathrm{ker}(g)$ lies in $\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^n}(1)^{\oplus(n+1)}$, but the EVF seems to lie in $T\mathbb{P}^n$.

  • Another point -- which may be central to the whole issue -- is if $\frac{\partial}{\partial x_i}$ are a proper set of basis vectors for $\mathbb{P}^n$. The $x_i$ are homogeneous coordinates after all, so is the resolution to my question that:$$ x_j \frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} $$(note the $j$ index, $j=1,\dots,n$are a basis of $T\mathbb{P}^n$, but the EVF$$ x_i \frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} $$is actually the $\vec{\mathbf{0}}$ vector? Should we be working with affine coordinates on a patch, e.g. $y_i = x_i/x_0$ on the patch $x_0 \neq 0$?

I hope to have picture that intuitively maps $c$ to the zero vector field in $T\mathbb{P}^n$, and the above steps don't quite get me there.

$\endgroup$ 3 Reset to default

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy