Finiteness obstructions and Euler characteristics of categories (Q624325)

The authors introduce notions of finiteness obstructions, Euler characteristic, functorial Euler characteristic, \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic, functorial Euler characteristic and Möbius inversion for a wide class of categories, thus extending these notions. For a small category, \(\Gamma\) and an associative, commutative ring \(R\) with identity, an \(R\Gamma\)-module is a functor from \(\Gamma^{\mathrm{op}}\) into the abelian category of left \(R\)-modules. The category MOD-\(R\Gamma\) of \(R\Gamma\)-modules is abelian and hence \(R\Gamma\)-complexes are defined. For an \(R\Gamma\)-module \(M\), which has a finite projective resolution, the finiteness obstruction is the alternating sum of the projective modules in such a resolution; considered as an element of the projective class group \(K_0(R\Gamma)\). This definition is a special case of [\textit{W. Lück}, Transformation groups and algebraic \(K\)-theory. Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1408, Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1989; Zbl 0679.57022), Definition 11.1, p. 211]. A category \(\Gamma\) is of type \((FP)_R\) if the constant functor \(\underline{R}: \Gamma^{\mathrm{op}} \to R\mathrm{-Mod}\) considered as a contravariant \(R\Gamma\)-module has a resolution by finitely generated projective \(R\Gamma\)-modules of which only finitely many are non-zero. It is of type \((FF)_R\) if it has a finite free resolution. The \textit{finiteness obstruction} \(o(\Gamma,R)\), with coefficients in \(R\) of a category of type \(FP_R\) is the finiteness obstruction of the constant \(R\Gamma\)-module \(\underline{R}\), so \(o(\Gamma,R)\in K_0(R\Gamma)\). The Euler characteristic and the \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic are obtained from the finiteness obstruction using Lück's splitting of \(K_0\) [loc. cit., Theorem 10.34] and two notions of rank of \(R\Gamma\)-modules: The \(R\Gamma\)-rank and the \(L^2\)-rank. For an EI-category \(\Gamma\), the \(R\Gamma\)-rank induces a homomorphism \(rk_{R\Gamma}:K_0(R\Gamma)\to U(\Gamma)\), where \(U(\Gamma)\) is the free abelian group on the isomorphism classes of objects in \(\Gamma\). If \(\Gamma\) is of type \(FP_R\), the \textit{functorial Euler characteristic}, \(\chi_f(\Gamma,R)\) is defined as the image of the finiteness obstruction under \(rk_{R\Gamma}\). The Euler characteristic is the sum of the components of \(\chi_f(\Gamma,R)\). The \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic is defined for categories of type \((L^2)\), a slightly weaker requirement than \(FP_{\mathbb{C}}\). The \(L^2\)-rank defines a homomorphism \(rk_{\Gamma}^{(2)}:K_0(R\Gamma)\to U(\Gamma)\otimes_{\mathbb{Z}}\mathbb{R}\). If \(\Gamma\) is of type \((FP)_{\mathbb{C}}\), the functorial \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic is the image of the finiteness obstruction and the \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic is the sum of the components. The finiteness obstruction, functorial Euler characteristic, Euler characteristic, functorial \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic, \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic are invariant under equivalence of categories. They are compatible with finite products, finite coproducts, and homotopy colimits. The \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic is compatible with isofibrations and coverings between finite groupoids. It coincides with the classical \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic in the case of a group. The main example is the proper orbit category \(\underline{Or}(G)\) of a group \(G\). When \(\underline{E}G\), the classifying space of proper \(G\)-actions, is a finitely dominated \(G\)-\(CW\)-complex, then the finiteness obstruction \(o(\underline{Or}(G);\mathbb{Z})\) agrees with the equivariant finiteness obstruction of \(\underline{E}G\). If the model \(\underline{E}G\) is a finite \(G\)-\(CW\)-complex, the functorial Euler characteristic and the functorial \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic both agree with the equivariant Euler characteristic of \(\underline{E}G\). Many groups have a finite model \(\underline{E}G\): hyperbolic groups, groups that act simplicially cocompactly and properly by isometries on a \(CAT(0)\)-space, mapping class groups, the group of outer automorphisms of a finitely generated free group, finitely generated one-relator groups, and cocompact lattices in connected Lie groups. The next main result of the paper is the generalization of Lück's \(K\)-theoretic Möbius inversion from finite to quasi-finite EI-categories in Chapter 6 of the paper. Some of Leinster's results [\textit{T.~Leinster}, ``The Euler characteristic of a category'', Doc. Math., J. DMV 13, 21--49 (2008; Zbl 1139.18009)] on Möbius-Rota inversion are special cases of this. The groupoid cardinality [\textit{J. C. Baez} and \textit{J. Dolan}, ``From finite sets to Feynman diagrams'', in: B. Engquist (ed.) et al., Mathematics unlimited -- 2001 and beyond. Berlin: Springer. 29--50 (2001; Zbl 1004.18001)] and Leinster's Euler characteristic are special cases of the \(L^2\)-Euler characteristic.