A note on direct products and \(\mathrm{Ext}^1\) contravariant functors. (Q5964908)

This paper concerns the problem of describing classes of modules \(G\) over a ring \(R\) for which the contravariant derived functor \(\mathrm{Ext}^1_R(-,G)\) commutes with direct products. Using standard homological methods and properties of infinite cardinals, the authors show that if \(R\) is a hereditary ring, then the natural homomorphism \(\psi\colon\mathrm{Ext}_R^1(\prod_IM_i,G)\to\prod_I\mathrm{Ext}_R^1(M_i,G)\) is an isomorphism for all families \((M_i)_{i\in I}\) of \(R\)-modules if and only if \(G\) is injective.