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Bicategory
In mathematics, a bicategory (or a weak 2-category) is a concept in category theory used to extend the notion of category to handle the cases where the composition of morphisms is not (strictly) associative, but only associative ''up to'' an isomorphism. The notion was introduced in 1967 by Jean Bénabou. Bicategories may be considered as a weakening of the definition of 2-categories. A similar process for 3-categories leads to tricategories, and more generally to weak ''n''-categories for ''n''-categories. Definition Formally, a bicategory B consists of: * objects ''a'', ''b'', ... called 0-''cells''; * morphisms ''f'', ''g'', ... with fixed source and target objects called 1-''cells''; * "morphisms between morphisms" ρ, σ, ... with fixed source and target morphisms (which should have themselves the same source and the same target), called 2-''cells''; with some more structure: * given two objects ''a'' and ''b'' there is a category B(''a'', ''b'') whose objects are the 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weak N-category
In category theory, a weak ''n''-category is a generalization of the notion of strict ''n''-category where composition and identities are not strictly associative and unital, but only associative and unital up to coherent equivalence. This generalisation only becomes noticeable at dimensions two and above where weak 2-, 3- and 4-categories are typically referred to as bicategories, tricategories, and tetracategories. The subject of weak ''n''-categories is an area of ongoing research. History There is currently much work to determine what the coherence laws for weak ''n''-categories should be. Weak ''n''-categories have become the main object of study in higher category theory. There are basically two classes of theories: those in which the higher cells and higher compositions are realized algebraically (most remarkably Michael Batanin's theory of weak higher categories) and those in which more topological models are used (e.g. a higher category as a simplicial set satisfy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and mathematical analysis, analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of mathematical object, abstract objects and the use of pure reason to proof (mathematics), prove them. These objects consist of either abstraction (mathematics), abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of inference rule, deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tricategory
In mathematics, a tricategory is a kind of structure of category theory studied in higher-dimensional category theory. Whereas a weak 2-category is said to be a ''bicategory'', a weak 3-category is said to be a ''tricategory'' (Gordon, Power & Street 1995; Baez & Dolan 1996; Leinster 1998). Tetracategories are the corresponding notion in dimension four. Dimensions beyond three are seen as increasingly significant to the relationship between knot theory and physics. John Baez John Carlos Baez (; born June 12, 1961) is an American mathematical physicist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in Riverside, California. He has worked on spin foams in loop quantum gravity, appli ..., R. Gordon, A. J. Power and Ross Street have done much of the significant work with categories beyond bicategories thus far. See also * Weak ''n''-category References External linksThe Dimensional Ladder [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coherence Axiom
In mathematics, and particularly category theory, a coherence condition is a collection of conditions requiring that various compositions of elementary morphisms are equal. Typically the elementary morphisms are part of the data of the category. A coherence theorem states that, in order to be assured that all these equalities hold, it suffices to check a small number of identities. An illustrative example: a monoidal category Part of the data of a monoidal category is a chosen morphism \alpha_, called the ''associator'': : \alpha_ \colon (A\otimes B)\otimes C \rightarrow A\otimes(B\otimes C) for each triple of objects A, B, C in the category. Using compositions of these \alpha_, one can construct a morphism : ( ( A_N \otimes A_ ) \otimes A_ ) \otimes \cdots \otimes A_1) \rightarrow ( A_N \otimes ( A_ \otimes \cdots \otimes ( A_2 \otimes A_1) ). Actually, there are many ways to construct such a morphism as a composition of various \alpha_. One coherence condition that is typi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Isomorphism
In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a natural transformation provides a way of transforming one functor into another while respecting the internal structure (i.e., the composition of morphisms) of the categories involved. Hence, a natural transformation can be considered to be a "morphism of functors". Informally, the notion of a natural transformation states that a particular map between functors can be done consistently over an entire category. Indeed, this intuition can be formalized to define so-called functor categories. Natural transformations are, after categories and functors, one of the most fundamental notions of category theory and consequently appear in the majority of its applications. Definition If F and G are functors between the categories C and D , then a natural transformation \eta from F to G is a family of morphisms that satisfies two requirements. # The natural transformation must associate, to every object X in C, a morphism \eta_X : F( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bifunctor
In mathematics, specifically category theory, a functor is a mapping between categories. Functors were first considered in algebraic topology, where algebraic objects (such as the fundamental group) are associated to topological spaces, and maps between these algebraic objects are associated to continuous maps between spaces. Nowadays, functors are used throughout modern mathematics to relate various categories. Thus, functors are important in all areas within mathematics to which category theory is applied. The words ''category'' and ''functor'' were borrowed by mathematicians from the philosophers Aristotle and Rudolf Carnap, respectively. The latter used ''functor'' in a linguistic context; see function word. Definition Let ''C'' and ''D'' be categories. A functor ''F'' from ''C'' to ''D'' is a mapping that * associates each object X in ''C'' to an object F(X) in ''D'', * associates each morphism f \colon X \to Y in ''C'' to a morphism F(f) \colon F(X) \to F(Y) in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Object (category Theory)
In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a concrete category) is a collection of "objects" that are linked by "arrows". A category has two basic properties: the ability to compose the arrows associatively and the existence of an identity arrow for each object. A simple example is the category of sets, whose objects are sets and whose arrows are functions. ''Category theory'' is a branch of mathematics that seeks to generalize all of mathematics in terms of categories, independent of what their objects and arrows represent. Virtually every branch of modern mathematics can be described in terms of categories, and doing so often reveals deep insights and similarities between seemingly different areas of mathematics. As such, category theory provides an alternative foundation for mathematics to set theory and other proposed axiomatic foundations. In general, the objects and arrows may be abstract entities of any kind, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2-categories
In category theory, a strict 2-category is a category with "morphisms between morphisms", that is, where each hom-set itself carries the structure of a category. It can be formally defined as a category enriched over Cat (the category of categories and functors, with the monoidal structure given by product of categories). The concept of 2-category was first introduced by Charles Ehresmann in his work on enriched categories in 1965. The more general concept of bicategory (or ''weak'' 2-''category''), where composition of morphisms is associative only up to a 2-isomorphism, was introduced in 1968 by Jean Bénabou. Jean Bénabou, Introduction to bicategories, in Reports of the Midwest Category Seminar, Springer, Berlin, 1967, pp. 1--77. Definition A 2-category C consists of: * A class of 0-''cells'' (or ''objects'') , , .... * For all objects and , a category \mathbf(A,B). The objects f,g: A \to B of this category are called 1-''cells'' and its morphisms \alpha: f \R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category Theory
Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Nowadays, category theory is used in almost all areas of mathematics, and in some areas of computer science. In particular, many constructions of new mathematical objects from previous ones, that appear similarly in several contexts are conveniently expressed and unified in terms of categories. Examples include quotient spaces, direct products, completion, and duality. A category is formed by two sorts of objects: the objects of the category, and the morphisms, which relate two objects called the ''source'' and the ''target'' of the morphism. One often says that a morphism is an ''arrow'' that ''maps'' its source to its target. Morphisms can be ''composed'' if the target of the first morphism equals the source of the second one, and morphism com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Bénabou
Jean Bénabou (1932 – 11 February 2022) was a Moroccan-born French mathematician, known for his contributions to category theory. He directed the Research Seminar in Category Theory at the Institut Henri Poincaré The Henri Poincaré Institute (or IHP for ''Institut Henri Poincaré'') is a mathematics research institute part of Sorbonne University, in association with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). It is located in the 5th arrond ... and Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu from 1969 to 2001. Bénabou died on 11 February 2022. Partial bibliography * * * * * * See also * References 1932 births 2022 deaths 20th-century French mathematicians Category theorists Moroccan emigrants to France People from Rabat External links * {{France-mathematician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isomorphism
In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word isomorphism is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἴσος ''isos'' "equal", and μορφή ''morphe'' "form" or "shape". The interest in isomorphisms lies in the fact that two isomorphic objects have the same properties (excluding further information such as additional structure or names of objects). Thus isomorphic structures cannot be distinguished from the point of view of structure only, and may be identified. In mathematical jargon, one says that two objects are . An automorphism is an isomorphism from a structure to itself. An isomorphism between two structures is a canonical isomorphism (a canonical map that is an isomorphism) if there is only one isomorphism between the two structures (as it is the case for solutions of a uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
