English

Operational K-theory

Algebraic Geometry 2015-06-10 v3 K-Theory and Homology

Abstract

We study the operational bivariant theory associated to the covariant theory of Grothendieck groups of coherent sheaves, and prove that it has many geometric properties analogous to those of operational Chow theory. This operational K-theory agrees with Grothendieck groups of vector bundles on smooth varieties, admits a natural map from the Grothendieck group of perfect complexes on general varieties, satisfies descent for Chow envelopes, and is A^1-homotopy invariant. Furthermore, we show that the operational K-theory of a complete linear variety is dual to the Grothendieck group of coherent sheaves. As an application, we show that the K-theory of perfect complexes on any complete toric threefold surjects onto this group. Finally, we identify the equivariant operational K-theory of an arbitrary toric variety with the ring of integral piecewise exponential functions on the associated fan.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1301.0425,
  title  = {Operational K-theory},
  author = {Dave Anderson and Sam Payne},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.0425},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

38 pages; v2: new exampes in Sections 5 and 7, and an new application (Theorem 1.4), showing that the natural map from K-theory of perfect complexes to the dual of the Grothendieck group of coherent sheaves is surjective for complete toric threefolds; v3: final version published in Documenta Math

R2 v1 2026-06-21T23:03:20.295Z