No label defined (Q4217072)

This is the first in a series of papers by the authors setting out a new, basis-free, approach to the Graham-Lehrer theory of cellular algebras. The latter are a class of finite-dimensional associative algebras satisfying certain axioms. The essential idea is to construct a cellular algebra \(A\) using a two-sided ideal \(J\) which is compatible in a certain sense with the cellular involution of \(A\) and which has the property that \(A/J\) is cellular. In the case where the ground ring is a field, there are two distinct kinds of cell ideals: those for which \(J^2=0\) and those for which \(J^2=J\). The authors relate their results to the theory of quasihereditary algebras and also study the large extent to which the cellular involution plays a key role in the structure of the algebra \(A\). The paper concludes with a look at some of the homological properties and the Hochschild extensions of cellular algebras. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0894.00037].