$K$-theory and logarithmic Hodge-Witt sheaves of formal schemes in characteristic $p$

Abstract

We describe the mod $p^r$ pro $K$-groups $\{K_n(A/I^s)/p^r\}_s$ of a regular local $\mathbb F_p$-algebra $A$ modulo powers of a suitable ideal $I$, in terms of logarithmic Hodge-Witt groups, by proving pro analogues of the theorems of Geisser-Levine and Bloch-Kato-Gabber. This is achieved by combining the pro Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg theorem in topological cyclic homology with the development of the theory of de Rham-Witt complexes and logarithmic Hodge-Witt sheaves on formal schemes in characteristic $p$. Applications include the following: the infinitesimal part of the weak Lefschetz conjecture for Chow groups; a $p$-adic version of Kato-Saito's conjecture that their Zariski and Nisnevich higher dimensional class groups are isomorphic; continuity results in $K$-theory; and criteria, in terms of integral or torsion \'etale-motivic cycle classes, for algebraic cycles on formal schemes to admit infinitesimal deformations. Moreover, in the case $n=1$, we compare the \'etale cohomology of $W_r\Omega^1_\text{log}$ and the fppf cohomology of $\mathbf\mu_{p^r}$ on a formal scheme, and thus present equivalent conditions for line bundles to deform in terms of their classes in either of these cohomologies.