The main theme of this paper is to study $\tau $-tilting subcategories in an abelian category $\mathscr {A}$ with enough projective objects. We introduce the notion of $\tau $-cotorsion torsion triples and investigate a bijection between the collection of $\tau $-cotorsion torsion triples in $\mathscr {A}$ and the collection of support $\tau $-tilting subcategories of $\mathscr {A}$, generalizing the bijection by Bauer, Botnan, Oppermann, and Steen between the collection of cotorsion torsion triples and the collection of tilting subcategories of $\mathscr {A}$. General definitions and results are exemplified using persistent modules. If $\mathscr {A}=\mathrm{Mod}\mbox {-}R$, where R is a unitary associative ring, we characterize all support $\tau $-tilting (resp. all support $\tau ^-$-tilting) subcategories of $\mathrm{Mod}\mbox {-}R$ in terms of finendo quasitilting (resp. quasicotilting) modules. As a result, it will be shown that every silting module (resp. every cosilting module) induces a support $\tau $-tilting (resp. support $\tau ^{-}$-tilting) subcategory of $\mathrm{Mod}\mbox {-}R$. We also study the theory in $\mathrm {Rep}(Q, \mathscr {A})$, where Q is a finite and acyclic quiver. In particular, we give an algorithm to construct support $\tau $-tilting subcategories in $\mathrm {Rep}(Q, \mathscr {A})$ from certain support $\tau $-tilting subcategories of $\mathscr {A}$.

We give a list of statements on the geometry of elliptic threefolds phrased only in the language of topology and homological algebra. Using only notions from topology and homological algebra, we recover existing results and prove new results on torsion pairs in the category of coherent sheaves on an elliptic threefold.

We consider when a single submodule and also when every submodule of a module $M$ over a general ring $R$ has a unique closure with respect to a hereditary torsion theory on Mod-$R$.

The general theory of locally coherent Grothendieck categories is presented. To each locally coherent Grothendieck category $\C$ a topological space, the Ziegler spectrum of $\C,$ is associated. It is proved that the open subsets of the Ziegler spectrum of $\C$ are in bijective correspondence with the Serre subcategories of $\coh \C,$ the subcategory of coherent objects of $\C.$ This is a Nullstellensatz for locally coherent Grothendieck categories. If $R$ is a ring, there is a canonical locally coherent Grothendieck category $\RC$ (respectively, $\CR$) used for the study of left (respectively, right) $R$-modules. This category contains the category of $R$-modules and its Ziegler spectrum is quasi-compact, a property used to construct large (not finitely generated) indecomposable modules over an artin algebra. Two kinds of examples of locally coherent Grothendieck categories are given: the abstract category theoretic examples arising from torsion and localization and the examples that arise from particular modules over the ring $R.$ The duality between $\coh (\RC)$ and $\coh \CR$ is shown to give an isomorphism between the topologies of the left and right Ziegler spectra of a ring $R.$ The Nullstellensatz is used to give a proof of the result of Crawley-Boevey that every character $\xi: K_0 (\coh \C) \to Z$ is uniquely expressible as a $Z$-linear combination of irreducible characters.

1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 16D90, 18E15.

In this paper we study categorical compactness with respect to a class of objects F being motiveated by examples arising from modules, abelian groups, and various classes of non-abelian groups. This theory is then applied to the category of not necessarily associative rings. In particular, we study the example arising from the class of all torsion-free rings. This work extends some recent results of B. J. Gardner for associative rings and radical classes.