Motivic decomposition of projective homogeneous varieties and the Krull-Schmidt theorem (Q862280)

Let \({\mathcal M}(R)\) be the category of Chow motives with coefficients in the commutative ring \(R\). A Chow motive \(M\) is called an Artin-Tate motive if there exists a finite collection of motives \(M_i\) such that any tensor power of \(M\) is the direct sum of Tate twists of the motives \(M_i\). The subcategory of \({\mathcal M} (R)\) of Artin-Tate motives contains the motives of quadrics and of Severi-Brauer varieties. In this paper the authors show that the motive of any projective homogeneous variety for an algebraic group \(G\) is an Artin-Tate motive. More precisely: Let \(G\) be a semisimple algebraic group, defined over a field \(F\) and let \(J\) be the class of all projective homogeneous varieties over \(L\) of the group \(G_L\), where \(F\subset L\subset F_G\). Here \(F_G\) is the smallest field extension of \(F\) such that the group \(G_{F_G}\) is of inner type. Denote by \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\) the Tate pseudoabelian subcategory of \({\mathcal M}(R)\) generated by motives of varieties from \(J\). An object of \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\) is a direct summand of a motive of the form \(\coprod M(X_i)(n_i)\), where all \(X_i\in J\) and \(n_i\geq 0\). Then: (1) The category \({\mathcal M} (G,R)\) is a symmetric tensor category. (2) Let \(M\) be an object in \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\). Then for every field extension \(L/F\) the kernel of the natural ring homomorphism \(\text{End}\,M\to\text{End}\, M_L\) is a nil ideal. (3) Let \(M\) be an object in \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\) and let \(L/F\) be a field extension such that \(M_L=0\) then \(M=0\). (4) If Spec\,\(R\) is connected then every motive in \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\) is isomorphic to a finite direct sum of indecomposable motives. In the paper it is also proved that, in some cases, the Krull-Schmidt theorem holds in \({\mathcal M}(G,R)\), for example if \(R=\mathbb{Z}(p)\) and \(G\) is a simple group. The Krull-Schmidt theorem does not hold over \(\mathbb{Z}\), even for a group \(G\) of inner type.