Confusion about projective resolution: group cohomology

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I am totally confused about a detail in computing group cohomology. Let $G$ be a group, $A$ a $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-module. $H^i(G, -)$ is the $i$th right derived functor of $\operatorname{Hom}_{\mathbb{Z}[G]}(\mathbb{Z}, -)$, i.e. $\operatorname{Ext}_{\mathbb{Z}[G]}^i(\mathbb{Z}, -)$. Here, $G$ acts trivially on $\mathbb{Z}$. Taking $P_i = \mathbb{Z}[G^{i+1}]$, we get a projective resolution $$\cdots \to P_1 \to P_0 \to \mathbb{Z} \to 0$$ where $d: P_i \to P_{i-1}$ is defined by $d(g_0, \ldots, g_i) = \sum_{j=0}^i (-1)^j (g_0, \ldots, \hat{g}_j, \ldots, g_i)$. This is a projective resolution because each $P_i$ is a free $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-module, and it is exact because we have an explicit nullhomotopy $h: P_i \to P_{i+1}$ given by $h(g_0, \ldots, g_i) = (1, g_0, \ldots, g_i)$ (this is only a map of abelian groups, but it doesn't matter since exactness can be checked in Ab). The derived functors therefore can be calculated by dualizing this complex i.e. applying $\operatorname{Hom}_{\mathbb{Z}[G]}(-, A)$ and taking homology.

What's confusing me is this: isn't the nullhomotopy preserved after dualization? Doesn't this in particular imply that the dualized (co)complex is nullhomotopic, hence exact, hence $H^i(G, A) = 0$ for all $i > 0$? I'm sure I've done something very silly.

Edit: To be more precise, since we are taking the homology of the complex truncated at degree $0$, the nullhomotopy is only defined for higher degrees, which is why I specified $i > 0$.

Best Answer

Okay, I think I found the problem. The point here is that $h$, defined on the original complex, is well-defined as maps of abelian groups but not as maps of $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-modules. Although this is well and good for the original complex, this is not fine upon dualizing; the resulting maps may not even be well-defined, since we need maps $\operatorname{Hom}_{\mathbb{Z}[G]}(P_{i+1}, A) \to \operatorname{Hom}_{\mathbb{Z}[G]}(P_i, A)$. A map of $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-modules $P_{i+1} \to A$ might not pull back to a map of $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-modules if the map we're pulling it along is not a map of $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-modules.

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