D-Modules and the Riemann-Hilbert Correspondence
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D-MODULES AND THE RIEMANN-HILBERT CORRESPONDENCE JOSE´ SIMENTAL Abstract. These are notes for a talk given at the MIT/NEU Seminar on Hodge modules, Fall 2016. We give a quick introduction to the theory of D-modules, following mostly [BCEY, HTT, K]. 1. Differential operators 1.1. Setup. Let X be a smooth algebraic variety, and let dX := dim X. We remark that all algebraic varieties here are always assumed to be quasi-projective. By OX we will denote the structure sheaf of X, and VectX denotes the sheaf of vector fields on X, that is, the sheaf of regular sections of TX. Consider the sheaf EndCX (OX ), its sections on an open set U are HomCX (OU ; OU ). Note that we have embeddings OX ,!EndCX (OX ) and VectX ,!EndCX (OX ). Definition 1.1. The sheaf of differential operators DX is the sheaf of algebras that is generated by OX ; VectX inside of EndCX (OX ). Let us remark that DX is actually a coherent sheaf of algebras on X. This follows from the corresponding result for OX and results of Subsection 1.2 below, see Corollary 1.4. We also remark that DX is a sheaf of noncommutative algebras. Indeed, if ξ 2 VectX ; f 2 OX , then [ξ; f] = ξ(f), which is not necessarily zero. In local coordinates x1; : : : ; xn; @x1; : : : ; @xn, and element P 2 DX may be written as X α P = aα(x)@x n α2Z≥0 α1+···+αn n α @ where aα = 0 for all but a finite number of α 2 Z≥0, and @x = α1 αn . @x1 ··· @xn Remark 1.2. We remark that a local coordinate system x1; : : : ; xn;@x1 ;:::;@xn does not give an isomorphism n n from a neighborhood U to an affine subvariety of C . Rather, what we have is an ´etalemorphism U ! C . 1.2. Order of differential operators. Let P 2 DX be a differential operator. Assume that, in local P α coordinates, we have P = n aα(x)@x . We would like to say that P has order at most n if maxfjαj : α2Z≥0 aα(x) 6= 0g ≤ n. Of course, a representation of P in local coordinates is not unique, so this definition does not work as stated. However, we do have a filtration on DX that formalizes this idea. ≤m Definition 1.3. We define a filtration F (DX ) as follows: ≤m (1) F DX = 0 for m < 0. ≤0 (2) F DX = OX . ≤m ≤m−1 (3) F DX = fP 2 DX :[P; OX ] 2 F DX g for m ≥ 1. S ≤m ≤m m+1 It is clear, using a computation in local coordinates, that DX = n F DX and that F DX ⊆ F DX ≤m ≤n ≤m+n for every m. By double induction, it is easy to show that F DX · F DX ⊆ F DX , so that this is ≤m ≤n ≤m+n−1 F an algebra filtration, and that [F DX ;F DX ] ⊆ F DX , so that the associated graded gr DX is commutative. Let us describe this graded algebra explicitly. First, it is easy to check that we have F F gr0 DX = OX and gr1 DX = VectX . Note that this implies that we have a surjection: F (1) gr D Sym Vect = π O ∗ X OX X ∗ T X where π : T ∗X ! X is the canonical projection. A computation in local coordinates tells us that this is actually an isomorphism. 1 2 JOSE´ SIMENTAL Corollary 1.4. The sheaf DX is a noetherian (in particular, coherent) sheaf of algebras on X. Proof. This follows since gr DX is noetherian. We remark that the isomorphism in (1) is actually an isomorphism of Poisson algebras with respect to the F Poisson algebra structure in gr DX induced by the filtration on DX and the Poisson bracket on π∗OT ∗X induced by the canonical symplectic form on T ∗X. Using local coordinates, this is an easy exercise. 1.3. Analytic setting. When discussing the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence, we need to consider dif- ferential operators on analytic, rather than algebraic, manifolds. Most of what we have discussed so far transfers to the analytic setting, although the proofs are slightly more difficult. For example, we still have that gr D = Sym Vect . However, the latter algebra no longer coincides with π O ∗ . The coherence X OX X ∗ T X of DX here follows from the Oka-Cartan theorem, and the Hilbert basis theorem. 2. D-modules We remark that DX is quasi-coherent as a OX -module. Most of the time below, we will restrict our attention to those DX -modules which are quasi-coherent as OX -modules. We denote by DX -Modqc ⊆ DX -Mod the category of such modules. 2.1. Connections. By a DX -module we mean a left DX -module. Perhaps the easiest example of such a module is given by the sheaf OX , which is a left DX -module by definition. Note that we have an exact sequence of DX -modules: (2) DX ⊗OX VectX −! DX −! OX −! 0 where the map DX ⊗OX VectX is P ⊗ ξ 7! P ξ, and the map DX 7! OX is P 7! P · 1. Later, we will extend the sequence (2) to a complex of left DX -modules, see (7). Now let M be an OX -module. If we want to extend the OX -module structure on M to a DX -module structure, we need a compatible action of vector fields, that is a map VectX ⊗OX M!M. Taking duals, we get a connection: 1 (3) r : M ! M ⊗OX ΩX 1 Where ΩX is the sheaf of 1-forms. It is an easy exercise to check that the fact that this actually defines a 2 2 2 DX -module structure on M means that the connection (3) is flat, i.e. r = 0, where r : M ! M ⊗OX ΩX 2 is r = (r ⊗ 1 + 1 ⊗ d)r. In this sense, DX -modules are a generalization of vector bundles on X with a flat connection. 2.2. O-coherent D-modules. Following with the idea of the last paragraph, we will see in this subsection that, if a DX -module is O-coherent, then it is indeed a vector bundle with a flat connection. Proposition 2.1. Let M be a DX -module. Assume that M is OX -coherent. Then, M is locally free over OX . Proof. Let x 2 X be a closed point. It suffices to show that Mx is free over the local ring OX;x. By Nakayama's lemma, we may find generators m1; : : : ; mk 2 Mx such that m1;:::; mk form a basis of Mx=mxMx over the field OX;x=mx. We claim that m1; : : : ; mk form a basis of Mx. Indeed, assume the P contrary so there exist f1; : : : ; fk 2 OX;x such that fimi = 0. Define the order of f 2 OX;x by ord(0) = 1 ` `+1 and ord(f) = ` if f 2 m but f 62 m . Note that ord(fi) ≥ 0 for every i = 1; : : : ; n and ord(fi) > 0 for at least one i. Moreover, let `0 := minford(fi): i = 1; : : : ; n; ord(fi) > 0g. If the m1; : : : ; mk are not lineraly independent over OX;x, we may assume that `0 is minimal among such linear combinations and `0 > 0. Without loss of generality, we may assume that `0 = ord(f1). Note that there exists a vector field ξ defined locally around x such that ξ(f1) 6= 0 and ord(ξ(f1)) < ord(f1) = `0. Now, D-MODULES AND THE RIEMANN-HILBERT CORRESPONDENCE 3 0 1 X X X X (4) 0 = ξ fimi = ξ(fi)mi + fiξ(mi) = @ξ(fi) + fjajiA mi i j P P where ξ(mi) = j aijmj. Note that ord(ξ(f1) + j fjaj1) is strictly less than `0. We have arrived at a contradiction. Thus, M is locally free over OX . 2.3. Coherent D-modules. The following class of DX -modules will be important for us. Definition 2.2. A DX -module M is coherent if it is locally finitely generated, that is, for every x 2 X there ⊕N exists a neighborhood U of x and N > 0 such that we have an epimorphism (DX jU ) MjU . We denote the category of coherent DX -modules by DX -mod. Remark 2.3. In general, the definition of coherence is more complicated. In general, for a sheaf of algebras A, a A-module is coherent if it is locally finitely generated and every locally finitely generated submodule is finitely presented. In view of Corollary 1.4, this agrees with our Definition 2.2 in the case A = DX . The following result makes sure that coherent DX -modules have nice properties, and it is the key to build a bridge between the non-commutative setting of D-modules and the more familiar commutative setting of algebraic geometry, cf. Subsection 2.4. Proposition 2.4. Let M be a coherent DX -module. Then, M is globally generated (over DX ) by a coherent OX -submodule. S Proof. We can take a finite, affine open covering X = Ui such that MjUi is finitely generated over DUi . Thus, we may take a coherent OU -submodule Ni ⊆ MjU that generates MjU as a DU -module. Extend this i P i i i to a coherent OX -submodule Ni ⊆ M. Then, i Ni is OX -coherent and generates M as a DX -module. Remark 2.5. From now on, when we mention 'coherent D-module' we will always mean coherent in the sense of this subsection, not coherent as a O-module.