Rigid cohomology over Laurent series field I: First definitions and basic properties

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new $p$-adic cohomology theory for varieties over Laurent series fields, based on rigid cohomology, providing foundational definitions and properties for further arithmetic applications.

Contribution

It constructs a relative rigid cohomology theory over Laurent series fields using compactifications over power series rings, with foundational results ensuring its well-definedness and functoriality.

Findings

Defined a new $p$-adic cohomology theory for Laurent series fields

Established basic properties and functoriality of the theory

Introduced a category of twisted coefficients

Abstract

This is the first in a series of papers in which we construct and study a new $p$-adic cohomology theory for varieties over Laurent series fields $k(\!(t)\!)$ in characteristic $p$. This will be a version of rigid cohomology, taking values in the bounded Robba ring $\mathcal{E}_K^\dagger$, and in this paper, we give the basic definitions and constructions. The cohomology theory we define can be viewed as a relative version of Berthelot's rigid cohomology, and is constructed by compactifying $k(\!(t)\!)$-varieties as schemes over $k[\![ t]\!]$ rather than over $k(\!(t)\!)$. We reprove the foundational results necessary in our new context to show that the theory is well defined and functorial, and we also introduce a category of `twisted' coefficients. In latter papers we will show some basic structural properties of this theory, as well as discussing some arithmetic applications including the weight monodromy conjecture and independence of $\ell$ results for equicharacteristic local fields.