Representations of categories and their applications (Q2466500)

Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with identity and \({\mathcal C}\) a small category. By a result of Mitchell, the category of representations of \({\mathcal C}\) over \(R\), that is, the category of covariant functors from \({\mathcal C}\) to \(R\)-\(mod\), is equivalent to the category of left modules over the category algebra \({R\mathcal C}\). Recall that \(R{\mathcal C}\) is, by definition, the free \(R\)-module with basis the set of all morphisms in \({\mathcal C}\), and the product is the linear extension of the composition of basis elements. In this paper, the author assumes that the category \(\mathcal C\) is finite (its morphisms form a finite set) and EI (every endomorphism in \(\mathcal C\) is an isomorphism). He develops a theory of vertices and sources for \(R{\mathcal C}\)-mod which parameterizes the indecomposable \(R{\mathcal C}\)-modules and establishes reduction formulas for computing Ext groups. Then minimal projective resolutions for \(R{\mathcal C}\)-modules are describes and applications are given, the main one being a result on the global dimension of \(R{\mathcal C}\).