Representations and Cohomology of Categories
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Representations and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Representations and Cohomology of Category cohomology and the Schur Categories multiplier Xu's counterexample Peter Webb The orbit category and Alperin's weight conjecture University of Minnesota Concluding remarks April 10, 2010 Representations Outline and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a What is a representation of a category? category? Category cohomology and the Schur Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier multiplier Xu's counterexample The orbit category Xu's counterexample and Alperin's weight conjecture Concluding The orbit category and Alperin's weight conjecture remarks Concluding remarks Representations Theme and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier Xu's Representations of categories are remarkably like counterexample representations of groups! The orbit category and Alperin's weight conjecture Concluding remarks Representations Categories and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb Let C be a small category. What is a representation of a Examples: category? Category I a group cohomology and the Schur I a poset multiplier Xu's I the free category associated to a quiver. The objects counterexample are the vertices of the quiver, the morphisms are all The orbit category and Alperin's possible composable strings of the arrows. weight conjecture Concluding The theory of representations of the above examples is well remarks developed and we do not expect to get more information about them from this general theory. We are more interested in other categories, such as the orbit category associated to a family of subgroups of a group, or the categories which arise with p-local finite groups. Representations Representations and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a Let R be a commutative ring with 1. A representation of a category? Category category C over R is a functor M : C! R-mod. cohomology and the Schur multiplier Straightforward example: Xu's C is the category with five morphisms • − • −! •. counterexample The orbit category A representation is a diagram of modules B − A −! C. and Alperin's We may be interested in weight conjecture Concluding I the direct limit of this diagram: the pushout; remarks I is this operation exact? I Etc. Representations and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier A representation of a category is a diagram of modules. Xu's counterexample The orbit category and Alperin's weight conjecture Concluding remarks Representations Well-studied examples of representations and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a I When C is a group we get homomorphism category? C! EndR (V ). Category cohomology and I When C is a poset we get a module for the incidence the Schur multiplier algebra. Xu's counterexample I When C is the free category associated to a quiver we The orbit category get a representation of the quiver. and Alperin's weight conjecture When C = • − • −! • its path algebra is I Concluding remarks 0∗ ∗ ∗1 @0 ∗ 0A 0 0 ∗ Representations Further examples and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and I C = finite dimensional vector spaces over some field. the Schur multiplier We get generic representation theory. Xu's counterexample I C = finite sets with bijective morphisms. We get The orbit category species. and Alperin's weight conjecture Various constructions in topology and the cohomology I Concluding of groups: homotopy colimits, the Quillen category. remarks Representations Category Algebra and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? The category algebra RC is the free R-module with the Category cohomology and morphisms of C as a basis. We define the product of these the Schur basis elements to be composition if possible, zero otherwise. multiplier Xu's Examples: counterexample The orbit category I When C is a group we get the group algebra. and Alperin's weight conjecture When C is a poset we get the incidence algebra. I Concluding remarks I When C is the free category associated to a quiver we get the path algebra of the quiver. Representations Equivalence of representations and modules and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb Theorem (B. Mitchell) What is a representation of a Representations are `the same' as RC-modules, if C has category? Category finitely many objects. cohomology and the Schur multiplier Example: Xu's counterexample I When C is a group, representations are the same as The orbit category and Alperin's modules for the group algebra. weight conjecture When C is the free category associated to a quiver, Concluding I remarks representations are the same as modules for the path algebra. Under this correspondence a representation M corresponds L to an RC-module x2ObC M(x). Natural transformations of functors correspond to module homomorphisms. Representations Constant functors and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and For any R-module A we define the constant functor the Schur A : C! R-mod to be A(x) = A on objects x and multiplier Xu's A(α) = idA on morphisms α. counterexample Taking A to be R itself we get the constant functor R. The orbit category and Alperin's Example: weight conjecture Concluding I When C is a group we get the trivial module R. remarks Representations Theme and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier Xu's Representations of categories are remarkably like counterexample representations of groups! The orbit category and Alperin's weight conjecture Concluding remarks Representations Category cohomology and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a Theorem (Roos, Gabriel-Zisman) category? ∗ ∼ ∗ ExtRC(R; R) = H (jCj; R) where jCj is the nerve of C. Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier We define H∗(C; R) to be the cohomology groups in the last Xu's theorem. This is the cohomology of C. counterexample More generally, for any representation M of C we put The orbit category and Alperin's ∗ ∗ weight conjecture H (C; M) := ExtRC(R; M). Concluding remarks Example: I When C is a (discrete) group the nerve is the classifying space BC and the algebraically computed cohomology is isomorphic to the cohomology of BC. Representations Category extensions: Definition 1 and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Extension definition EZ: Category cohomology and An extension of a category C is a diagram of categories and the Schur functors multiplier Xu's K!E!C counterexample The orbit category which behaves like a group extension and Alperin's weight conjecture Concluding 1 ! K ! E ! G ! 1 remarks (i.e. a short exact sequence of groups). Representations Category extensions: Definition 2 and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb An extension of a category C (in the sense of Hoff) is a What is a representation of a diagram of categories and functors category? Category i p cohomology and K −!E −!C the Schur multiplier Xu's satisfying counterexample The orbit category 1. K, E and C all have the same objects, i and p are the and Alperin's identity on objects, i is injective on morphisms, and p is weight conjecture Concluding surjective on morphisms; remarks 2. whenever f and g are morphisms in E then p(f ) = p(g) if and only if there exists a morphism m 2 K for which f = i(m)g. In that case, the morphism m is required to be unique. Representations Extension properties and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb i p Given an extension K −!E −!C it follows (not obviously) What is a representation of a that category? Category I all morphisms in K are endomorphisms, and are cohomology and the Schur invertible, multiplier I we get a functor E! Groups, x 7! EndK(x). Xu's counterexample The orbit category If all the groups End (x) are abelian and Alperin's K weight conjecture I we get a functor C! AbelianGroups Concluding remarks i.e. a representation of C, which we denote K. Compare: for a group extension 1 ! K ! E ! G ! 1 there is a conjugation action of E on the normal subgroup K. When K is abelian it becomes a representation of G. Representations Second cohomology parametrizes extensions and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and the Schur multiplier Theorem Xu's When all the groups EndK(x) are abelian, equivalence counterexample classes of extensions K!E!C biject with elements of The orbit category and Alperin's H2(C; K). weight conjecture Concluding remarks Representations Other interpretations of cohomology and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a representation of a category? Category cohomology and the Schur 1 0 multiplier There are known interpretations of H , H , H0, H1 which Xu's generalize to categories the familiar results for groups. counterexample A generalization to categories of the group-theoretic The orbit category and Alperin's interpretation of H2 has not previously been observed. weight conjecture Concluding remarks Representations Schur multiplier basics and Cohomology of Categories Peter Webb What is a The Schur multiplier of a category C is defined to be representation of a category? H (C; ) = TorRC( ; ). This generalizes the definition for 2 Z 2 Z Z Category groups. cohomology and the Schur Theorem multiplier 0 Xu's Let G be a group for which G=G is free abelian. There is counterexample universal central extension 1 ! K ! E ! G ! 1 with The orbit category 0 and Alperin's K ⊆ E , unique up to isomorphism.