Sheaf Cohomolog and Free Resolutions over Exterior Algebras

Abstract

In this paper we derive an explicit version of the Bernstein-Gel'fand-Gel'fand (BGG) correspondence between bounded complexes of coherent sheaves on projective space and minimal doubly infinite free resolutions over its ``Koszul dual'' exterior algebra. This leads to an efficient method for machine computation of the cohomology of sheaves. Among the facts about the BGG correspondence that we derive is that taking homology of a complex of sheaves corresponds to taking the ``linear part'' of a resolution over the exterior algebra. Using these results we give a constructive proof of the existence of a Beilinson monad for a sheaf on projective space. The explicitness of our version allows us to to prove two conjectures about the morphisms in the monad. Along the way we prove a number of results about minimal free resolutions over an exterior algebra. For example, we show that such resolutions are eventually dominated by their "linear parts" in the sense that erasing all terms of degree $>1$ in the complex yields a new complex which is eventually exact.