Let
denote a locally free sheaf on a scheme
. For a cohomology class
one can construct a geometric object: Because of
,
the class defines an extension
-
This extension is such that under the connecting homomorphism of cohomology,
is sent to
.
The extension yields a projective subbundle
-

If
is the corresponding geometric vector bundle of
, one may think of
as
which consists for every base point
of all the lines in the fiber
passing through the origin. The projective subbundle
has codimension one inside
, for every point it is a projective space lying
(linearly)
inside a projective space of one dimension higher. The complement is then over every point an affine space. One can show that the global complement
-

is another model for the torsor given by the cohomology class. The advantage of this viewpoint is that we may work, in particular when
is projective, in an entirely projective setting.