Abelian category - Knowlpedia

An abelian category is a category $\mathcal A$ such that:

$\mathcal A$ is an additive category (in particular, hom-sets are abelian groups and finite biproducts exist);
every morphism has a kernel and a cokernel;
every monomorphism is a kernel of its cokernel, and every epimorphism is a cokernel of its kernel.

These axioms provide an abstract setting for linear algebra, exact sequences, and homological algebra.

Equivalent characterizations

Equivalently, $\mathcal A$ satisfies the standard abelian category axioms.

Consequences

In an abelian category:

one can define exact sequences and do homological algebra;
every morphism $f$ admits an “image–coimage” comparison, and the canonical map $\mathrm{coim}(f)\to \mathrm{im}(f)$ is an isomorphism;
kernels are monomorphisms and cokernels are epimorphisms, mirroring the familiar situation in $\mathbf{Ab}$ and $R$ -modules.

Examples

$R\text{-}\mathbf{Mod}$ . The category of left modules over a ring $R$ is abelian.

$\mathrm{Ch}(R)$ . The category of chain complexes of $R$ -modules is abelian (kernels and cokernels are computed degreewise).

Non-examples

$\mathbf{Set}$ is not abelian (not additive).
$\mathbf{Grp}$ is not abelian (kernels exist, but cokernels and exactness do not satisfy the abelian axioms).
$\mathbf{Top}$ is not abelian (again, not additive).