On the geometry of lattices and finiteness of Picard groups

Abstract

Abstract Let ( K , 𝒪 , k ) {(K,\mathcal{O},k)} be a p-modular system with k algebraically closed and 𝒪 {\mathcal{O}} unramified, and let Λ be an 𝒪 {\mathcal{O}} -order in a separable K-algebra. We call a Λ-lattice L rigid if Ext Λ 1 ⁡ ( L , L ) = 0 {{\operatorname{Ext}}^{1}_{\Lambda}(L,L)=0} , in analogy with the definition of rigid modules over a finite-dimensional algebra. By partitioning the Λ-lattices of a given dimension into “varieties of lattices”, we show that there are only finitely many rigid Λ-lattices L of any given dimension. As a consequence we show that if the first Hochschild cohomology of Λ vanishes, then the Picard group and the outer automorphism group of Λ are finite. In particular, the Picard groups of blocks of finite groups defined over 𝒪 {\mathcal{O}} are always finite.