Definition:Chain Complex

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Definition

Let $\AA$ be an abelian category.


A chain complex in $\AA$ is a family of objects:

$\family {C_i}_{i \mathop \in \Z}$ of $\AA$

and a family of morphisms:

$\family {d_i : C_i \to C_{i - 1} }_{i \mathop \in \Z}$

such that for all $i \in \Z$, the composition $d_{i - 1} \circ d_i$ is the zero morphism $0 : C_i \to C_{i - 2}$.


Visualization

A chain complex can be visualized as a diagram:

$\cdots \longrightarrow C_{i + 1} \stackrel {d_{i + 1} } \longrightarrow C_i \stackrel {d_i} \longrightarrow C_{i - 1} \stackrel {d_{i - 1} } \longrightarrow C_{i - 2} \longrightarrow \cdots$


Also see

  • Results about chain complexes can be found here.


Sources