Let $k$ be a perfect field of characteristic $p$, $W(k)$ the Witt ring and $K$ its quotient field. In their article "$p$-adic periods and $p$-adic etale cohomology" Fontaine and Messing give in II.1.4 an explicit description of the syntomic sheaf $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n$ which is defined as $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(Z) = H^0((Z/W_{n}(k))_{cris},\mathcal{O}_{Z/W_{n}(k)})$ for $Z$ a $k$-Scheme.
In order to do so, for a $k$-Algebra $A$ they construct a morphism $W_n(A) \longrightarrow O^{cris}_n(A)$ via $(a_0, \dots, a_{n-1}) \mapsto \hat a_0^{p^n} + \dots + p^{n-1}\hat a_{n-1}^{p}$, where the $\hat a_i$ should be liftings of the $a_i$ in $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(A)$.
As a special case they gave in I.1.3 the morphism $W_n(\mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p) \to \mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p^n$. Now, in this special case there is obviously a surjective morphism $\mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p^n \to \mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p$ which allows the lifting.
But how does this generalize to $k$-algebras: Why is $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(\mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p) = \mathcal{O}_{\bar K}/p^n$ and why is there a surjective morphism $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(A)\to A$ which makes the definition well-defined?
Some thoughts I had my self: $\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(Z)$ is a crystalline global section and thus a compatible system of sections for all nilpotent thickenings $U \to T$ in the crystalline site. By definition of the crystalline structure sheaf, these sections are just $\mathcal{O}_T(T)$ for a thickening $U \to T$. I guess this morphism is just the projection of the global section to $\mathcal{O}_A(A) = A$. The same morphism is obtained, if one takes for an arbitrary thickening $\text{Spec} A \to T$ the morphism on global sections $\mathcal{O}_T(T) \to A$, which is dividing out the nilpotent ideal. But I do not see, why this morphism is surjective, i.e. why we can choose a compatible system of liftings in all nilpotent thickenings.
$\mathcal{O}^{cris}_n(\mathcal{O}_{\overline{K}}/p^n)$
: it is the universal PD thickening of $\mathcal{O}_{\overline{K}}/p^n$ in which $p^n=0$. $\endgroup$