The cohomological Brauer group of a toric variety

Abstract

Toric varieties are a special class of rational varieties defined by equations of the form {\it monomial = monomial}. For a good brief survey of the history and role of toric varieties see [10]. Any toric variety $X$ contains a cover by affine open sets described in terms of arrangements (called fans) of convex bodies in $\Bbb R^r$. The coordinate rings of each of these affine open sets is a graded ring generated over the ground field by monomials. As a consequence, toric varieties provide a good context in which cohomology can be calculated. The purpose of this article is to describe the second étale cohomology group with coefficients in the sheaf of units of any toric variety $X$. This is the so-called cohomological Brauer group of $X$.