Characterisation of coherent sheaves on an algebraic variety - MathOverflow most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net2013-05-26T07:19:25Zhttp://mathoverflow.net/feeds/question/25365http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdfhttp://mathoverflow.net/questions/25365/characterisation-of-coherent-sheaves-on-an-algebraic-varietyCharacterisation of coherent sheaves on an algebraic varietyDan Petersen2010-05-20T14:15:23Z2010-05-20T18:19:05Z
<p>The Wikipedia article on coherent sheaves makes the following claim (without any reference), which I had trouble proving or finding a reference for: on an algebraic variety <em>X</em> (or I guess possibly even on a locally noetherian scheme), the coherent sheaves can be defined as the smallest class of sheaves of $\mathcal{O}_X$-modules with the following two properties:</p>
<p>i) the sheaf $\mathcal{O}_X$ is itself coherent;</p>
<p>ii) if, in a short exact sequence of sheaves, two of the sheaves are coherent, then so is the third. </p>
<p>I'm skeptical, but I would still like to know if this is true. If so, does anyone know a reference?</p>
http://mathoverflow.net/questions/25365/characterisation-of-coherent-sheaves-on-an-algebraic-variety/25401#25401Answer by MartinG for Characterisation of coherent sheaves on an algebraic varietyMartinG2010-05-20T18:19:05Z2010-05-20T18:19:05Z<p>This is false. Every sheaf in that class would have zero first Chern class, since $c_1$ is additive over short exact sequences.</p>