Category of modules

In algebra, given a ring R, the category of left modules over R is the category whose objects are all left modules over R and whose morphisms are all module homomorphisms between left R-modules. The category of right modules is defined in the similar way.

Note: Some authors use the term module category for the category of modules; this term can be ambiguous since it could also refer to a category with a monoidal-category action.^[1]

Properties

The category of left modules (or that of right modules) is an abelian category. The category has enough projectives^[2] and enough injectives.^[3] Mitchell's embedding theorem states every abelian category arises as a full subcategory of the category of modules.

Projective limits and inductive limits exist in the category of (say left) modules.^[4]

Over a commutative ring, together with the tensor product of modules ⊗, the category of modules is a symmetric monoidal category.

Example: the category of vector spaces

The category K-Vect (some authors use Vect_K) has all vector spaces over a fixed field K as objects and K-linear transformations as morphisms. Since vector spaces over K (as a field) are the same thing as modules over the ring K, K-Vect is a special case of R-Mod, the category of left R-modules.

Much of linear algebra concerns the description of K-Vect. For example, the dimension theorem for vector spaces says that the isomorphism classes in K-Vect correspond exactly to the cardinal numbers, and that K-Vect is equivalent to the subcategory of K-Vect which has as its objects the free vector spaces Kⁿ, where n is any cardinal number.

Generalizations

The category of sheaves of modules over a ringed space also has enough projectives and injectives.

See also

• Algebraic K-theory (the important invariant of the category of modules.)
• Category of rings
• Derived category
• Module spectrum
• Category of graded vector spaces
• Category of abelian groups

References

1. "module category in nLab". ncatlab.org.
2. trivially since any module is a quotient of a free module.
3. Dummit–Foote, Ch. 10, Theorem 38.
4. Bourbaki, § 6.

• Bourbaki, Algèbre; "Algèbre linéaire."
• Dummit, David; Foote, Richard. Abstract Algebra.
• Mac Lane, Saunders (September 1998). Categories for the Working Mathematician. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 5 (second ed.). Springer. ISBN 0-387-98403-8. Zbl 0906.18001.

External links

• http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Mod