Motivated by some properties satisfied by Gorenstein projective and Gorenstein injective modules over an Iwanaga-Gorenstein ring, we present the concept of left and right $n$-cotorsion pairs in an abelian category $\mathcal{C}$. Two classes $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$ of objects of $\mathcal{C}$ form a left $n$-cotorsion pair $(\mathcal{A,B})$ in $\mathcal{C}$ if the orthogonality relation $\mathsf{Ext}^i_{\mathcal{C}}(\mathcal{A,B}) = 0$ is satisfied for indexes $1 \leq i \leq n$, and if every object of $\mathcal{C}$ has a resolution by objects in $\mathcal{A}$ whose syzygies have $\mathcal{B}$-resolution dimension at most $n-1$. This concept and its dual generalise the notion of complete cotorsion pairs, and has an appealing relation with left and right approximations, especially with those having the so called unique mapping property. The main purpose of this paper is to describe several properties of $n$-cotorsion pairs and to establish a relation with complete cotorsion pairs. We also give some applications in relative homological algebra, that will cover the study of approximations associated to Gorenstein projective, Gorenstein injective and Gorenstein flat modules and chain complexes, as well as $m$-cluster tilting subcategories.

Comment: 40 pages