Picard group of a singular projective curve

Let $X$ be a singular irreducible projective curve over an algebraically closed field and $\pi : \widetilde{X} \to X$ the normalization morphism. In the book on Neron models by Bosch et al. (I have slightly simplified the setup), the Picard group of $X$ is computed by taking the long exact sequence associated to $$0 \to \mathcal{O}_X^* \to \pi_*\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}^* \to \pi_*\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}^*/\mathcal{O}_X^* \to 0.$$ This seems to depend on the assertion that $\text{Pic}(\widetilde{X}) \cong H^1(X,\pi_*\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}^*)$, which is not obvious to me. If $\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}^*$ were coherent, then this would be a consequence of the exactness of $\pi_*$ on coherent sheaves ($\pi$ is finite), but of course $\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}^*$ is not even a sheaf of $\mathcal{O}_{\widetilde{X}}$-modules. How can we resolve this difficulty?

-

Let's consider the ringed space $(X, \pi_* O_{\widetilde X})$ and also the ringed space $(\widetilde X, O_{\widetilde X})$. Certainly $\pi_{\*}$ gives us an isomorphism $$\text{Pic}(\widetilde X, O_{\widetilde X})) \cong \text{Pic}(X, \pi_* O_{\widetilde X})$$ which sends an $O_X$-line bundle $L$ to the $\pi_* O_X$-module $\pi_* L$, right? (I'm using the fact that $X$ is projective here to show that there exist open trivializing sets containing various finite collections of points). Also observe that $(\pi_* O_{\widetilde X})^{\*} = \pi_* (O_{\widetilde X}^{\*})$. Thus by Hartshorne Chapter III, Exercise 4.5 (which works on arbitrary ringed spaces), we see that $$\text{Pic}(X, \pi_* O_{\widetilde X}) \cong H^1(X, (\pi_* O_{\widetilde X})^*).$$ Combining with the isomorphisms already written, we obtain: $$\text{Pic}(\widetilde X, O_{\widetilde X}) \cong \text{Pic}(X, \pi_* O_{\widetilde X}) \cong H^1(X, (\pi_{\*} O_{\widetilde X})^*) \cong H^1(X, \pi_{\*} (O_{\widetilde X}^{\*}))$$
Hi Jason, I was trying to avoid $\pi_*$ exactness (since that seemed to be what Just Campbell was worried about)? Instead I was claiming that all this work can be done on a different ringed space on $X$, and we don't need to consider the scheme $(X, O_X)$ at all. –  Karl Schwede Jul 17 '12 at 2:01
I guess that might be a better way to go about it, to prove directly that $\pi_*$ is exact on arbitrary sheaves of Abelian groups. –  Karl Schwede Jul 17 '12 at 2:11
@Jason Starr: I had hoped something like this was true. Would you mind elaborating a bit, perhaps in an answer? What property of $\pi$ is responsible for this fact? I know there is a theorem about higher direct images for proper maps that would give me what I want e.g. in the complex topology, but I'm wary of applying this in the Zariski topology. –  Justin Campbell Jul 17 '12 at 3:25
Bhargav is correct, I was wrong: pushforward by a finite morphism is not necessarily acyclic (for the Zariski topology). You can see this quite clearly for a non-local, semilocal domain if you use Exercise 1.19 of Hartshorne with the locally constant sheaf $\mathbb{Z}$. As Bhargav says, you can use the \'etale topology to compute Pic, and pushforward by a finite morphism is acyclic for the \'etale topology. –  Jason Starr Jul 17 '12 at 12:05