In this paper we give an explicit algorithm to construct the ordinary quiver of a finite EI category for which the endomorphism groups of all objects have orders invertible in the field k. We classify all finite EI categories with hereditary category algebras, characterizing them as free EI categories (in a sense which we define) for which all endomorphism groups of objects have invertible orders. Some applications on the representation types of finite EI categories are derived.

Let $A$ be a finite dimensional k-algebra standardly stratified for a partial order $\leqslant$ and $\Delta$ be the direct sum of all standard modules. In this paper we study the extension algebra $E = Ext^{\ast}_A (Δ,Δ)$ of standard modules, characterize the stratification property of $E$ for $\geqslant$ and $\geqslant ^{op}$, and obtain a sufficient condition for $E$ to be a generalized Koszul algebra (in a sense which we define).

We present a version of a proof by Andy Chermak of the existence and uniqueness of centric linking systems associated with arbitrary saturated fusion systems. This proof differs from the one in [Ch2] in that it is based on the computation of derived functors of certain inverse limits. This leads to a much shorter proof, but one which is aimed mostly at researchers familiar with homological algebra.

Let k be a commutative Noetherian ring. In this paper we consider filtered modules of the category FI firstly introduced by Nagpal. We show that a finitely generated FI-module V is filtered if and only if its higher homologies all vanish, and if and only if a certain homology vanishes. Using this homological characterization, we characterize finitely generated FI-modules V whose projective dimension is finite, and describe an upper bound for it. Furthermore, we give a new proof for the fact that V induces a finite complex of filtered modules, and use it as well as a result of Church and Ellenberg to obtain another upper bound for homological degrees of V.

In this paper, we obtain a class of irreducible Virasoro modules by taking tensor products of the irreducible Virasoro modules $\Omega(\lambda,b)$ with irreducible highest weight modules $V(\theta ,h)$ or with irreducible Virasoro modules $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta}(N)$ defined in Mazorchuk and Zhao (Selecta Math. (N.S.) 20:839–854,2014). We determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for two such irreducible tensor products to be isomorphic. Then we prove that the tensor product of $\Omega(\lambda,b)$ with a classical Whittaker module is isomorphic to the module $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta, \lambda}(\mathbb{C}_{\mathbf{m}})$ defined in Mazorchuk and Weisner (Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 142:3695–3703,2014). As a by-product we obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for the module $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta, \lambda}(\mathbb{C}_{\mathbf{m}})$ to be irreducible. We also generalize the module $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta, \lambda}(\mathbb{C}_{\mathbf{m}})$ to $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta,\lambda}(\mathcal{B}^{(n)}_{\mathbf{s}})$ for any non-negative integer $n$ and use the above results to completely determine when the modules $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta,\lambda}(\mathcal{B}^{(n)}_{\mathbf{s}})$ are irreducible. The submodules of $\mathrm{Ind}_{\theta,\lambda}(\mathcal{B}^{(n)}_{\mathbf{s}})$ are studied and an open problem in Guo et al. (J. Algebra 387:68–86,2013) is solved. Feigin–Fuchs’ Theorem on singular vectors of Verma modules over the Virasoro algebra is crucial to our proofs in this paper.