Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
We define the cover of an RG-module V to consist of an RG lattice Ṽ and a homomorphism π : Ṽ→ V such that π induces an isomorphism on Ext*RG(M, —) for any RG-lattice M. Here G is a finite group and, for simplicity in this introduction, R is a complete discrete valuation ring of characteristic zero with prime element p and perfect valuation class field. Let pn(G) be the highest power of p that divides |G| and, given an RG-lattice M, let pn(M) be the smallest power of p such that pn(M) idM : M→M factors through a projective lattice: n(M)≦n(G).