Higher Auslander's defect and classifying substructures of n-exangulated categories

Abstract

Herschend-Liu-Nakaoka introduced the notion of $n$-exangulated categories. It is not only a higher dimensional analogue of extriangulated categories defined by Nakaoka-Palu, but also gives a simultaneous generalization of $n$-exact categories and $(n+2)$-angulated categories. In this article, we give an $n$-exangulated version of Auslander's defect and Auslander-Reiten duality formula. Moreover, we also give a classification of substructures (=closed subbifunctors) of a given skeletally small $n$-exangulated category by using the category of defects.