Does full imply faithful? (Q355359)

If \(X_{1}\) and \(X_{2}\) are two projective varieties and \(D^{b}(X_{i})\) is the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on \(X_{i}\), then every exact functor between them has a left and a right adjoint; if it is fully faithful, then it is a Fourier-Mukai functor. This is a consequence of results of \textit{A. Bondal} and \textit{M. van den Bergh} [Mosc. Math. J. 3, No. 1, 1--36 (2003; Zbl 1135.18302)] and of \textit{D. Orlov} [J. Math. Sci., New York 84, No. 5, 1362--1381 (1997; Zbl 0938.14019)]. Moreover, if \(F:D^{b}(X_{1})\to D^{b}(X_{2})\) is a full exact functor, one can show that \(F\) is faithful. In the paper under review, the authors adress the following question: when is a full functor between `geometric triangulated categories' faithful? Let \(\mathbb{T}\) be a triangulated category with arbitrary direct sums, and \(\mathbb{T}^{c}\) the subcategory of compact objects (i. e. those \(A\in\mathbb{T}\) such that the canonical map \(\bigoplus_{i}\Hom(A,X_{i})\to \Hom(A,\bigoplus_{i}X_{i})\) is an isomorphism for every family \(\{X_{i}\}_{i\in I}\) of objects of \(\mathbb{T}\)). The category \(\mathbb{T}\) is compactly generated if there is a set \(S\) of compact objects of \(\mathbb{T}\) such that for every \(A\in\mathbb{T}\) we have that \(\Hom(A,E[i])=0\) for every \(E\in S\) and every \(i\in\mathbb{Z}\) implies that \(A=0\). The ring \(R=\mathrm{End}(A)\) of endomorphisms of \(A\in\mathbb{T}\) is (right) idempotent noetherian if for every sequence \(\{f_{i}\}_{i\in\mathbb{N}}\) of elements of \(R\) such that \(f_{j}\circ f_{i}=f_{i}\) for every \(i<j\), there is \(n\in\mathbb{N}\) such that \(f_{i}R=f_{n}R\) for every \(i\geq n\). The authors show that if \(\mathrm{End}(A)\) is idempotent noetherian, then \(A\) is isomorphic to a finite direct sum of indecomposable objects. The main result of the paper is the following: if \(\mathbb{T}\) is a compactly generated triangulated category and if \(S\) is a set of compact objects of \(\mathbb{T}\) whose endomorphism rings are idempotent noetherian, then for every full exact functor \(F:\mathbb{S}\to\mathbb{T}'\) (where \(\mathbb{S}\) is the thick subcategory of \(\mathbb{T}^{c}\) generated by \(S\) and \(\mathbb{T}'\) is a triangulated category) we have an orthogonal decomposition \(\mathbb{S}=(\ker(F))^{\perp}\oplus\ker(F)\), and the restriction of \(F\) to \((\ker(F))^{\perp}\) is faithful. If \(\mathbb{T}=D^{b}(\mathbb{A})\) for some abelian category \(\mathbb{A}\) with countable direct sums, then for every \(C\in D^{b}(A)\) such that \(H^{k}(C)\in\mathbb{A}\) is noetherian in \(\mathbb{A}\) for all \(k\), then \(\mathrm{End}(C)\) is idempotent noetherian. It follows that if \(\mathbb{S}\) is a thick full triangulated subcategory of \(D^{b}(\mathbb{A})\) whose objects have noetherian cohomology, then for every full exact functor \(F:\mathbb{S}\to\mathbb{T}'\) to a triangulated category \(\mathbb{T}'\), there is an orthogonal decomposition \(\mathbb{S}=(\ker(F))^{\perp}\oplus\ker(F)\), and the restriction of \(F\) to \((\ker(F))^{\perp}\) is faithful. A geometrical applications of these general results is the following: if \(X\) is a noetherian scheme and \(Z\) is a closed subscheme of \(X\), we let \(D^{b}_{Z}(X)\) be the full triangulated subcategory of \(D^{b}(X)\) whose objects are the complexes with cohomology supported on \(Z\). The subcategory of compact objects of \(D^{b}_{Z}(X)\) is \(\mathrm{Perf}_{Z}(X)\) (i. e. the subcategory of perfect complexes supported on \(Z\)). If \(\mathbb{S}\) is either \(\mathrm{Perf}_{Z}(X)\) or \(D^{b}_{Z}(X)\), then for every full exact functor \(F:\mathbb{S}\to\mathbb{T}\) to a triangulated category there is an orthogonal decomposition \(\mathbb{S}=(\ker(F))^{\perp}\oplus\ker(F)\), and the restriction of \(F\) to \(\ker(F)^{\perp}\) is faithful. If \(X\) is quasi-compact and quasi-separated, and \(Z\) is a connected closed subscheme of \(X\), then \(\mathrm{Perf}_{Z}(X)\) and \(D^{b}_{Z}(X)\) are indecomposable: it follows that every full exact functor from one of them to a triangulated category is faithful. In general, a full exact functor \(F:\mathbb{T}_{1}\to\mathbb{T}_{2}\) between triangulated categories does not need to be faithful, even if \(\mathbb{T}_{1}\) is indecomposable. An example is given in section 5: we let \(D(A)\) be the derived category of \(A-\)modules, where \(A\) is a commutative algebra over a field \(\mathbb{K}\) with generators \(x_{1},x_{1},\dots\) and relations \(x_{j}x_{i}=x_{i}\) for \(i<j\). The full triangulated subcategory \(\mathrm{Perf}(A)\) of \(D(A)\) of perfect complexes is indecomposable. Moreover, consider the functor \(G:\mathrm{Perf}(A)\to D(\mathbb{K})\) sending a perfect complex \(X\) to \(X\otimes^{L}_{A}\mathbb{K}\). The authors show that \(G\) is a full exact functor which is easily seen to be non-faithful: the non-trivial morphism \(x_{i}:A\to A\) is such that \(F(x_{i})\) is the trivial morphism.