n-abelian and n-exact categories

We introduce n-abelian and n-exact categories, these are analogs of abelian and exact categories from the point of view of higher homological algebra. We show that n-cluster-tilting subcategories of abelian (resp. exact) categories are n-abelian (resp. n-exact). These results allow to construct several examples of n-abelian and n-exact categories. Conversely, we prove that n-abelian categories satisfying certain mild assumptions can be realized as n-cluster-tilting subcategories of abelian categories. In analogy with a classical result of Happel, we show that the stable category of a Frobenius n-exact category has a natural $$(n+2)$$ -angulated structure in the sense of Geiß–Keller–Oppermann. We give several examples of n-abelian and n-exact categories which have appeared in representation theory, commutative algebra, commutative and non-commutative algebraic geometry.