A categorical definition of semidirect products (Q1383222)

The author introduces the notions of semidirect product and semidirect sum in a category \({\mathcal C}\) with zero morphisms. A semidirect product in \({\mathcal C}\) (also called extension in the literature) is a sequence \[ A @>f>> B {\overset {g}{\underset {r}\rightleftarrows}}C \] with \(f=\ker g\) and \(gr=C\). Semidirect sums are defined dually. If, for any semidirect product in \({\mathcal C}\), \(g=\text{coker} f\) holds, \({\mathcal C}\) is called exact semidirect product. Morphisms of semidirect products are also introduced and the connection between semidirect and direct products in an additive category \({\mathcal C}\) is given. Two thirds of the paper are dedicated to the investigation of semidirect products and sums in concrete categories, such as the category of topological spaces, of (commutative) Banach algebras, of topological groups, etc. The effect of several concrete functors, such as the Gelfand functor, on semidirect products and sums is investigated in the last section.