The Stacks project

Lemma 10.46.4. Let $\varphi : R \to S$ be a ring map. Assume

  1. $S$ is generated as an $R$-algebra by elements $x$ such that $x^2, x^3 \in \varphi (R)$, and

  2. $\mathop{\mathrm{Ker}}(\varphi )$ is locally nilpotent,

Then $\varphi $ induces isomorphisms on residue fields and a homeomorphism of spectra. For any ring map $R \to R'$ the ring map $R' \to R' \otimes _ R S$ also satisfies (a) and (b).

Proof. Assume (a) and (b). The map on spectra is closed as $S$ is integral over $R$, see Lemmas 10.41.6 and 10.36.22. The image is dense by Lemma 10.30.6. Thus $\mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(S) \to \mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(R)$ is surjective. If $\mathfrak q \subset S$ is a prime lying over $\mathfrak p \subset R$ then the field extension $\kappa (\mathfrak q)/\kappa (\mathfrak p)$ is generated by elements $\alpha \in \kappa (\mathfrak q)$ whose square and cube are in $\kappa (\mathfrak p)$. Thus clearly $\alpha \in \kappa (\mathfrak p)$ and we find that $\kappa (\mathfrak q) = \kappa (\mathfrak p)$. If $\mathfrak q, \mathfrak q'$ were two distinct primes lying over $\mathfrak p$, then at least one of the generators $x$ of $S$ as in (a) would have distinct images in $\kappa (\mathfrak q) = \kappa (\mathfrak p)$ and $\kappa (\mathfrak q') = \kappa (\mathfrak p)$. This would contradict the fact that both $x^2$ and $x^3$ do have the same image. This proves that $\mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(S) \to \mathop{\mathrm{Spec}}(R)$ is injective hence a homeomorphism (by what was already shown).

Since $\varphi $ induces a homeomorphism on spectra, it is in particular surjective on spectra which is a property preserved under any base change, see Lemma 10.30.3. Therefore for any $R \to R'$ the kernel of the ring map $R' \to R' \otimes _ R S$ consists of nilpotent elements, see Lemma 10.30.6, in other words (b) holds for $R' \to R' \otimes _ R S$. It is clear that (a) is preserved under base change. $\square$


Comments (0)


Post a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked.

In your comment you can use Markdown and LaTeX style mathematics (enclose it like $\pi$). A preview option is available if you wish to see how it works out (just click on the eye in the toolbar).

Unfortunately JavaScript is disabled in your browser, so the comment preview function will not work.

All contributions are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.




In order to prevent bots from posting comments, we would like you to prove that you are human. You can do this by filling in the name of the current tag in the following input field. As a reminder, this is tag 0EUH. Beware of the difference between the letter 'O' and the digit '0'.