Purity and approximation with respect to a class of morphisms
We investigate purity and approximation with respect to a class of morphisms of modules. Let [Formula: see text] be a class of left [Formula: see text]-module morphisms. An epimorphism [Formula: see text] of left [Formula: see text]-modules is called [Formula: see text]-pure if for any morphism [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text], there is a morphism [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text]. An [Formula: see text]-pure epimorphism [Formula: see text] is called [Formula: see text]-superfluous if every morphism [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-pure is itself [Formula: see text]-pure. We get many properties of [Formula: see text]-pure and [Formula: see text]-superfluous morphisms. As an application, we generalize the classical characterization of a projective cover to a general setting of an [Formula: see text]-cover. It is proven that an epimorphism [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text] is an [Formula: see text]-cover of [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text] has an [Formula: see text]-cover and [Formula: see text] is an [Formula: see text]-superfluous epimorphism if and only if [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-pure and there is no proper submodule [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-pure. In addition, some dual results are also given.