A geometric model of tube categories. (Q1938549)

Let \(\mathcal T_n\) be a tube of rank \(n\), the category of nilpotent finite dimensional quiver representations of an oriented \(n\)-cycle over a field, and let \(\mathcal C_n\) be the associated cluster category. For two indecomposable objects \(A,B\) of \(\mathcal T_n\), the extension group in the triangulated category \(\mathcal C_n\) is given by the formula \(\text{Ext}^1_{\mathcal C_n}(A,B)\cong\text{Ext}^1_{\mathcal T_n}(A,B)\oplus \text{Ext}^1_{\mathcal T_n}(B,A)^*\). The authors give a geometric interpretation of this formula by representing the indecomposables of \(\mathcal T_n\) by arcs in an annulus. Namely, they show that the dimension of \(\text{Ext}^1_{\mathcal T_n}(A,B)\) is the negative intersection number of the corresponding arcs in the annulus. A similar result holds for \(\mathbb A_\infty^\infty\).