Descent for algebraic stacks

Abstract

We prove that algebraic stacks satisfy 2-descent for fppf coverings. We generalize Galois descent for schemes to stacks, by considering the case where the fppf covering is a finite Galois covering, and reformulating 2-descent data in terms of Galois group actions on the stack.

16 pages, final version, to appear in Comptes Rendus Mathématique