Abstract: | Let A be a(left and right) Noetherian ring that is semiperfect. Let e be an idempotent of A and consider the ring Γ :=(1-e)A(1-e) and the semi-simple right A-module Se := e A/e rad A. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the global dimensions of A and Γ, by using the homological properties of Se. More precisely, we consider the Yoneda ring Y(e) := Ext_A~*(Se, Se) of e. We prove that if Y(e) is Artinian of finite global dimension, then A has finite global dimension if and only if so does Γ. We also investigate the situation where both A and Γ have finite global dimension. When A is Koszul and finite dimensional, this implies that Y(e) has finite global dimension. We end the paper with a reduction technique to compute the Cartan determinant of Artin algebras. We prove that if Y(e) has finite global dimension, then the Cartan determinants of A and Γ coincide. This provides a new way to approach the long-standing Cartan determinant conjecture. |