What is "exalcomm"

In algebra, Exalcomm is a functor classifying the extensions of a commutative algebra by a module. More precisely, the elements of Exalcomm(R,M) are isomorphism classes of commutative k-algebras E with a homomorphism onto the k-algebra R whose kernel is the R-module M (with all pairs of elements in M having product 0). There are similar functors Exal and Exan for non-commutative rings and algebras, and functors Exaltop, Exantop. and Exalcotop that take a topology into account.

"Exalcomm" is an abbreviation for "COMMutative ALgebra EXtension" (or rather for the corresponding French phrase). It was introduced by .

Exalcomm is one of the André–Quillen cohomology groups and one of the Lichtenbaum–Schlessinger functors.

Given homomorphisms of commutative rings A → B → C and a C-module L there is an exact sequence of A-modules

0 → Der(C, L) → Der(C, L) → Der(B, L) → Exalcomm(C, L) → Exalcomm(C, L) → Exalcomm(B, L), 
where Der(B,L) is the module of derivations of the A-algebra B with values in L. This sequence can be extended further to the right using André–Quillen cohomology.