Relative homological algebra. Vol. 2 (Q607636)

The first volume of the book under review (2011; Zbl 1238.13001; see the review above) is extended by a second volume of one hundred pages. In nine chapters the authors develop the basics on complexes including minimal complexes and Cartan-Eilenberg resolutions. That is, it is devoted to the homological algebra of the category of complexes of \(R\)-modules. The reviewer cannot describe the authors' intention better than they have done in their preface: ``The purpose of the second volume is to give the reader some feeling for problems and proofs concerning complexes. So we have included some basic results. These are probably well known, but it may be hard to find their proofs all in one place. We have also tried to give a sampling of some of the new developments and the associated tools in the study of complexes. Then we hope we will have encouraged the readers to go on to learn about more advanced topics such as derived categories and dualizing complexes. Bibliographical notes at the end of the volume describe references for extra reading.'' The authors' presentation is original, condensed and carefully written. For their writing they include their own as well as ideas presented in recent research papers. Even in case the authors' would be right with their claim that the results ``are probably well known'' it will be an important help for a person who will become familiar with these details to find them in such a compact and clearly presented way. The ``\(\text{Ext}\)''-groups for two complexes of \(R\)-modules are defined in the category of \(R\)-modules. There is a chapter on cotorsion pairs of complexes as well as a brief introduction to adjoint functors. In his Homotopical Algebra, Quillen defined a model structure on a category. For the case of the (abelian) category of \(R\)-modules the authors work out the connection between this model structure and cotorsion pairs (as done by \textit{M. Hovey} [Math. Z. 241, No. 3, 553--592 (2002; Zbl 1016.55010)]). In a further section there is a description how to get complete cotorsion pairs in the category of \(R\)-modules. The first definition of a homotopically minimal complex was given by the authors and \textit{J. Xu} [Math. J. Okayama Univ. 38, 25--46 (1996; Zbl 0940.18006)]. This is extended and included in a separate section. Each section is completed by a series of exercises. There are also some bibliographical notes to each section at the end of the book. Altogether, the whole book (part 1 and 2) is not only an introduction to homological methods with a view towards applications in ring theory. It leads a reader to present day research in relative homological methods. It also fills a gap in the textbooks between traditional texts in homological algebra and the more advanced topics like triangulated and derived categories. It is addressed to graduate students interested in homological methods as well as to researchers. It could also be used as a textbook for courses in homological algebra. Parts might be used also for seminars.