Ideals in triangulated categories: Phantoms, ghosts and skeleta (Q1269463)

The central notion of the paper is that of a projective class \(({\mathcal P},{\mathcal I})\) in a triangulated category \({\mathcal S}\). If \({\mathcal P}\) is a collection of objects of \({\mathcal S}\), let \({\mathcal P}\)-null denote the collection of all maps \(X\to Y\) such that the composite \(P\to X\to Y\) is zero for all objects \(P\) in \({\mathcal P}\) and all maps \(P\to X\). If \({\mathcal I}\) is a collection of maps of \({\mathcal S}\), let \({\mathcal I}\)-proj denote the collection of all objects \(P\) such that the composite \(P\to X\to Y\) is zero for all maps \(X\to Y\) in \({\mathcal I}\) and all maps \(P\to X\). A projective class is a pair \(({\mathcal P}, {\mathcal I})\) with \({\mathcal P}\)-null \(={\mathcal I}\) and \({\mathcal I}\)-proj \(={\mathcal P}\) such that for each object \(X\) there is a cofibre sequence \(P\to X\to Y\) with \(P\) in \({\mathcal P}\) and with \(X\to Y\) in \({\mathcal I}\). For a projective class \(({\mathcal P}, {\mathcal I})\) it follows that \({\mathcal I}\) is an ideal in \({\mathcal S}\). It is shown how a projective class gives rise to an Adams spectral sequence. Convergence and collapsing properties are obtained under the assumption that the projective class generates, that means for each non-zero \(X\) there is an object \(P\) in \({\mathcal P}\) such that \({\mathcal S} (P,X) \neq 0\). The results are applied to a discussion of phantom maps in the axiomatic setting of a triangulated category \({\mathcal S}\). A map \(X\to Y\) in \({\mathcal S}\) is a phantom map if for each `finite' \(W\) and each map \(W\to X\) the composite \(W\to X\to Y\) is zero. Specialization to phantom maps in the stable homotopy category leads to a generalized Milnor sequence. Furthermore, ghosts are investigated both in the topological setting of the stable homotopy category (a ghost is a map which induces the zero map of homotopy groups) and the algebraic setting of the derived category of an abelian category (a ghost is a map which induces the zero map of homology groups).