Weak Waldhausen categories and a localization theorem

Abstract

Waldhausen categories were introduced to extend algebraic $K$-theory beyond Quillen's exact categories. In this article, we modify Waldhausen's axioms so that it matches better with the theory of extriangulated categories, introducing a weak Waldhausen category and defining its Grothendieck group. Examples of weak Waldhausen categories include any extriangulated category, hence any exact or triangulated category, and any Waldhausen category. A key feature of this structure is that it allows for "one-sided" extriangulated localization theory, and thus enables us to extract right exact sequences of Grothendieck groups that we cannot obtain from the theory currently available. To demonstrate the utility of our Weak Waldhausen Localization Theorem, we give three applications. First, we give a new proof of the Extriangulated Localization Theorem proven by Enomoto--Saito, which is a generalization at the level of $K_0$ of Quillen's classical Localization Theorem for exact categories. Second, we give a new proof that the index with respect to an $n$-cluster tilting subcategory $\mathscr{X}$ of a triangulated category $\mathscr{C}$ induces an isomorphism between $K_0^{\mathsf{sp}}(\mathscr{X})$ and the Grothendieck group of an extriangulated substructure of $\mathscr{C}$. Last, we produce a weak Waldhausen $K_0$-generalization of a localization construction due to Sarazola that involves cotorsion pairs but allows for non-Serre localizations. We show that the right exact sequences of Grothendieck groups obtained from our Sarazola construction and the Extriangulated Localization Theorem agree under a common setup.