A foundational result in Grothendieck's descent theory and in his étale cohomology is the exactness of Amitsur's complex. More precisely, suppose we have an A-algebra
AtoB; then there is a cosimplicial complex associated to it whose n−cosimplices are
Botimes(n+1), and from there a complex obtains
0toAtoBtoBotimesBtoldotsquad(AMITSUR)
For example the map BtoBotimesB is bmapsto1otimesb−botimes1 and the following maps are obtained similarly by inserting 1's in tensor products of copies of B and taking alternating sums. The key result is that this Amitsur complex is exact if the initial algebra AtoB is faithfully flat.
The proof is splendid: "one" (ah, that's the point!) remarks that if the structural map has an A- linear retraction, then it is easy to conclude by constructing a homotopy. And then one reduces to this case by a bold gambit: since one doesn't know how to prove exactness of (AMITSUR) one tensors with B and gets the even more complicated complex (AMITSUR)otimesB . But now the initial map AtoB has become BtoBotimesB:bmapsto1otimesb , which HAS a retraction: just take the product BotimesBtoB:botimesb′mapstobb′ . So the tensored complex is exact and the initial complex was necessarily exact by faithful flatness.
Question: who proved this? I suspect the argument I sketched is due to Grothendieck since I couldn't find a reference to Amitsur in EGA nor in SGA.
So, what exactly did Amitsur prove in this context and how did he do it? I have a vague intuition that he didn't express himself in terms of faithful flatness, but my Internet search failed miserably. So, dear mathoverflow participants, you are my last hope...
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