The Brauer group of Azumaya corings and the second cohomology group

Abstract

Let $R$ be a commutative ring. An Azumaya coring consists of a couple $(S,\Cc)$, with $S$ a faithfully flat commutative $R$-algebra, and an $S$-coring $\Cc$ satisfying certain properties. If $S$ is faithfully projective, then the dual of $\Cc$ is an Azumaya algebra. Equivalence classes of Azumaya corings form an abelian group, called the Brauer group of Azumaya corings. This group is canonically isomorphic to the second flat cohomology group. We also give algebraic interpretations of the second Amitsur cohomology group and the first Villamayor-Zelinsky cohomology group in terms of corings.