Skip to main content
2 of 2
replaced http://mathoverflow.net/ with https://mathoverflow.net/

What are the monomorphisms in the category of schemes?

Someone recently asked what the epimorphisms in the category of schemes are; the other day I had been wondering about the similar question: what are the monomorphisms in the category of schemes? I am often frustrated working with schemes because, unlike a lot of other categories, it is not immediate that you have left cancellation of morphisms when you know the underlying map on sets is injective--and I think it must not be true in general, though I don't have an example in mind. Are there nice situations or additional conditions that guarantee that one may safely cancel morphisms of schemes on the left?