Isomorphism between short exact sequence and short sequence

807 Views Asked by At

Question

Given the sequences of $R-$modules

$$E_1 = 0\to A\to B\to C\to 0$$

$$E_2 = 0\to A'\to B'\to C'\to 0$$

such that $E_1$ is exact and $A\cong A'$, $B\cong B'$ and $C\cong C'$, when is it true that $E_2$ is exact?

Example

Let $A = \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$. I want to show that $A$ is injective in a particular way. Consider the short exact sequence

$$0\to\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}\to0$$

where $\phi:\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}$ is defined by $\phi(k)=nk$ and $\pi:\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ is the natural projection. I know that $A$ is injective if the following short sequence is exact:

$$0\to Hom_{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z},A)\to Hom_{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z},A)\to Hom_{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z},A)\to 0.$$

Since $Hom_{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z},A) = \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ and $Hom_{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z},A) = A$, we have the short exact sequence

$$0\to \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\to0$$

which places us in the position outlined above. Therefore, my question is this. Is it valid to say that because this sequence is exact, my target sequence is exact?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

1
On BEST ANSWER

This is certainly not true without more hypotheses. For instance, let $E_1$ be any short exact sequence, and let $A'=A$, $B'=B$, and $C'=C$. Let $E_2$ be the sequence obtained by taking the zero maps between these modules. Then $E_2$ is not exact (unless $A$, $B$, and $C$ are all $0$).

It is true if you assume you have isomorphisms that commute with the maps in your sequences. That is, if $E_1$ is $$0\to A\stackrel{f}\to B\stackrel{g}\to C\to 0$$ and $E_2$ is $$0\to A'\stackrel{f'}\to B'\stackrel{g'}\to C'\to 0,$$ you want isomorphisms $h_A:A\to A'$, $h_B:B\to B'$, and $h_C:C\to C'$ such that $f'h_A=h_Bf$ and $g'h_B=h_Cg$. The proof that $E_2$ is exact in this case is a straightforward diagram chase. For instance, if $b\in \ker(g')$, then $g(h_B^{-1}(b))=(h_C^{-1}g'h_B)(h_B^{-1}(b))=h_C^{-1}(g'(b))=0$ so $h_B^{-1}(b)\in\ker(g)$. Since $E_1$ is exact, this means $h_B^{-1}(b)=f(a)$ for some $a\in A$, and then $b=h_B(f(a))=f'(h_A(a))$ is in the image of $f'$.