Modules and group algebras

by J. F. Carlson

These notes grew out of a Nachdiplom course given at the ETH Zurich in the summer semester of 1995. They aim at the development of some of the basics of the interaction of homological algebra, or more specifically the cohomology of groups, and modular representation theory. The book presents an entirely new approach to the subject based on the recent development in this field. Basically the shift has been towards a much more categorical view of representation theory, and an expansion of the viewpoint to include infinitely generated modules as well as the finitely generated ones. Some of the constructions in the category of all modules have had new and original applications for the category of finitely generated modules. This introduction to a fresh view of the module theory for finite groups is of interest to students and researchers in homotopy theory and group actions as well as the representation theory of finite groups.