Extension complex of quiver representations ($C^0\stackrel{\delta }{\to }{C}^1$)

Put $C^0={⨁}_i\mathrm{Hom}(X_i,Y_i)$ and $C^1={⨁}_{\rho :i\to j}\mathrm{Hom}(X_i,Y_j)$. The differential has components $g_{\rho }{h}_i-h_j{f}_{\rho }$. Its kernel is ${\mathrm{Hom}}_Q(X,Y)$ and its cokernel is ${\mathrm{Ext}}_Q^1(X,Y)$. In a vertexwise splitting of an extension, the off-diagonal arrow blocks change by these coboundaries when the splitting changes.

Restriction at one arrow induces a surjection ${\mathrm{Ext}}_Q^1(X,Y)\twoheadrightarrow {\mathrm{Hom}}_k(\ker f_{\rho },\mathrm{coker}{g}_{\rho })$. Coboundaries vanish on the kernel after quotienting by the image, while every map between these spaces can be lifted and extended. Nonzero kernel and cokernel therefore force a nonsplit extension. For $X=Y$, rigidity forces every arrow to have maximal rank.