Relative regular objects in categories. (Q863175)

Let \(\mathcal A\) be a category, not necessarily Abelian. A morphism \(f\colon U\to M\) (in \(\mathcal A\)) is called regular if there exists a morphism \(h\colon M\to U\) such that \(f=fhf\). If every morphism \(U\to M\) is regular, then \(M\) is called a regular object with respect to \(U\) (or \(U\)-regular). In Section 2 of this paper, the authors give basic properties of the concept of relative regularity. Section 3 contains the study of relative regular elements in an Abelian category. The main result is Theorem 3.8, which states that if \(M_1,\dots,M_n\) are \(U\)-regular, then \(M_1\oplus\cdots\oplus M_n\) is \(U\)-regular. The working technique is based in two categorical results by Freyd and Mitchell. A dual result is obtained by using the dual of an Abelian category. Section 4 deals with the study of regularity in a locally finitely generated Grothendieck category. In such a category it is possible to define the concept of regular object. The authors give necessary and sufficient conditions for it to be semisimple. Some other results refer to the endomorphism ring of a regular object. The final section studies the regularity in two particular cases of Grothendieck categories, namely the category of graded \(R\)-modules and the category of comodules over a coalgebra. The paper is very interesting, extending many results by \textit{J. Zelmanowitz} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 163, 341-355 (1972; Zbl 0227.16022)].