The Stacks project

64.28 Profinite groups, cohomology and homology

Let $G$ be a profinite group.

Cohomology. Consider the category of discrete modules with continuous $G$-action. This category has enough injectives and we can define

Also there is a derived version $RH^0(G, -)$.

Homology. Consider the category of compact abelian groups with continuous $G$-action. This category has enough projectives and we can define

and there is also a derived version.

Trivial duality. The functor $M\mapsto M^\wedge = \mathop{\mathrm{Hom}}\nolimits _{cont}(M, S^1)$ exchanges the categories above and

Moreover, this functor maps torsion discrete $G$-modules to profinite continuous $G$-modules and vice versa, and if $M$ is either a discrete or profinite continuous $G$-module, then $M^\wedge = \mathop{\mathrm{Hom}}\nolimits (M, \mathbf{Q}/\mathbf{Z})$.

Notes on Homology.

1. If we look at $\Lambda$-modules for a finite ring $\Lambda$ then we can identify

   $$H_ i(G, M)=Tor_ i^{\Lambda [[G]]}(M, \Lambda )$$

   where $\Lambda [[G]]$ is the limit of the group algebras of the finite quotients of $G$.

2. If $G$ is a normal subgroup of $\Gamma$, and $\Gamma$ is also profinite then

   • $H^0(G, -)$: discrete $\Gamma$-module$\to$ discrete $\Gamma /G$-modules

   • $H_0(G, -)$: compact $\Gamma$-modules $\to$ compact $\Gamma /G$-modules

   and hence the profinite group $\Gamma /G$ acts on the cohomology groups of $G$ with values in a $\Gamma$-module. In other words, there are derived functors

   $$RH^0(G, -) : D^{+}(\text{discrete }\Gamma \text{-modules}) \longrightarrow D^{+}(\text{discrete }\Gamma /G\text{-modules})$$

   and similarly for $LH_0(G, -)$.