Acyclic differential modules need not be contractible #
Over the dual numbers over any commutative ring k, multiplication by ε gives a differential
module whose one-periodic complex is exact and whose underlying module is free. When k is
nontrivial, no linear homotopy contracts the differential. This example separates acyclicity from
contractibility at the boundary between homotopy and derived categories: the one-periodic complex
is nonzero in the periodic homotopy category but zero in the periodic derived category. Since
it is acyclic and not contractible, it is not homotopically projective, although its unique term
is projective (dualNumberDifferentialModule_projective). Thus acyclicity does not imply
contractibility, and projectivity of the terms does not imply homotopical projectivity. For the
same reason the complex has no projective flag (not_hasProjectiveFlag_dualNumberPeriodicComplex).
References #
- Luchezar L. Avramov, Ragnar-Olaf Buchweitz and Srikanth Iyengar, Class and rank of differential modules, Inventiones Mathematicae 169 (2007), 1–35, Sections 1–2.
The algebra of dual numbers over k.
Instances For
The differential module on the regular dual-number module with differential multiplication
by ε.
Instances For
The underlying object of the dual-number differential module is the regular module.
Transported to the regular module, the differential is multiplication by ε.
The differential sends x to x * ε.
The underlying module of dualNumberDifferentialModule is projective.
The one-periodic complex associated to multiplication by ε on the dual numbers.
Instances For
The one-periodic complex of the dual-number differential module is acyclic.
Multiplication by ε on the regular module admits no contracting homotopy: there is no
linear map h with d h + h d = 1.
The dual-number periodic complex is nonzero in the periodic homotopy category.
The dual-number periodic complex is zero in the periodic derived category.
The dual-number periodic complex is not homotopically projective, although its unique term is
projective by dualNumberDifferentialModule_projective.
The dual-number periodic complex has no projective flag, although its unique term is
projective by dualNumberDifferentialModule_projective.