Peiffer product and Peiffer commutator for internal pre-crossed modules (Q1688696)

Let \(\mathcal C\) be a semi-abelian category. In such a context, the notions of internal action, semidirect product and internal (pre)crossed module exist. In the present article, the authors introduce the notions of Peiffer product and Peiffer commutator of internal pre-crossed modules over a fixed object \(B\) of \(\mathcal C\), extending the corresponding classical notions to any semi-abelian category \(\mathcal C\). They also prove that, under certain assumptions on \(\mathcal C\), the crossed modules are the pre-crossed modules whose Peiffer commutator is trivial. Moreover, they give conditions on \(\mathcal C\) under which the Peiffer product realizes the coproduct in the category of crossed modules over the fixed object \(B\) of \(\mathcal C\).