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Pseudofunctor
In mathematics, a pseudofunctor ''F'' is a mapping from a category to the category Cat of (small) categories that is just like a functor except that F(f \circ g) = F(f) \circ F(g) and F(1) = 1 do not hold as exact equalities but only up to '' coherent isomorphisms''. A typical example is an assignment to each pullback Ff = f^*, which is a contravariant pseudofunctor since, for example for a quasi-coherent sheaf \mathcal, we only have: (g \circ f)^* \mathcal \simeq f^* g^* \mathcal. Since Cat is a 2-category, more generally, one can also consider a pseudofunctor between 2-categories, where coherent isomorphisms are given as invertible 2-morphisms. The Grothendieck construction associates to a contravariant pseudofunctor a fibered category, and conversely, each fibered category is induced by some contravariant pseudofunctor. Because of this, a contravariant pseudofunctor, which is a category-valued presheaf, is often also called a prestack (a stack minus effective descent). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2-category
In category theory in mathematics, a 2-category is a category with "morphisms between morphisms", called 2-morphisms. A basic example is the category Cat of all (small) categories, where a 2-morphism is a natural transformation between functors. The concept of a strict 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 1967 by Jean Bénabou. A (2, 1)-category is a 2-category where each 2-morphism is invertible. Definitions A strict 2-category By definition, a strict 2-category ''C'' consists of the data: * a class of 0-''cells'', * for each pairs of 0-cells a, b, a set \operatorname(a, b) called the set of 1-''cells'' from a to b, * for each pairs of 1-cells f, g in the same hom-set, a set \operatorname(f, g) called the set of 2-''cells'' from f to g, * ''ordinary compo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Functor
In mathematics, specifically category theory, a functor is a Map (mathematics), mapping between Category (mathematics), 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 function, 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 Linguistics, linguistic context; see function word. Definition Let ''C'' and ''D'' be category (mathematics), categories. A functor ''F'' from ''C'' to ''D'' is a mapping that * associates each Mathematical object, object X in ''C'' to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category (mathematics)
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 n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coherent Isomorphism
In mathematics, specifically in homotopy theory and (higher) category theory, coherency is the standard that equalities or diagrams must satisfy when they hold "up to homotopy" or "up to isomorphism". The adjectives such as "pseudo-" and "lax-" are used to refer to the fact equalities are weakened in coherent ways; e.g., pseudo-functor, pseudoalgebra. Coherent isomorphism In some situations, isomorphisms need to be chosen in a coherent way. Often, this can be achieved by choosing canonical isomorphisms. But in some cases, such as prestacks, there can be several canonical isomorphisms and there might not be an obvious choice among them. In practice, coherent isomorphisms arise by weakening equalities; e.g., strict associativity may be replaced by associativity via coherent isomorphisms. For example, via this process, one gets the notion of a weak 2-category from that of a strict 2-category. Replacing coherent isomorphisms by equalities is usually called strictification o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grothendieck Construction
In category theory, a branch of mathematics, the category of elements of a presheaf is a category associated to that presheaf whose objects are the elements of sets in the presheaf. It and its generalization are also known as the Grothendieck construction (named after Alexander Grothendieck) especially in the theory of descent, in the theory of stacks, and in fibred category theory. The Grothendieck construction is an instance of straightening (or rather unstraightening). Significance In categorical logic, the construction is used to model the relationship between a type theory and a logic over that type theory, and allows for the translation of concepts from indexed category theory into fibred category theory, such as Lawvere's concept of hyperdoctrine. The category of elements of a simplicial set is fundamental in simplicial homotopy theory, a branch of algebraic topology. More generally, the category of elements plays a key role in the proof that every weighted colimit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fibered Category
Fibred categories (or fibered categories) are abstract entities in mathematics used to provide a general framework for descent theory. They formalise the various situations in geometry and algebra in which ''inverse images'' (or ''pull-backs'') of objects such as vector bundles can be defined. As an example, for each topological space there is the category of vector bundles on the space, and for every continuous map from a topological space ''X'' to another topological space ''Y'' is associated the pullback functor taking bundles on ''Y'' to bundles on ''X''. Fibred categories formalise the system consisting of these categories and inverse image functors. Similar setups appear in various guises in mathematics, in particular in algebraic geometry, which is the context in which fibred categories originally appeared. Fibered categories are used to define stacks, which are fibered categories (over a site) with "descent". Fibrations also play an important role in categorical semantics of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presheaf (category Theory)
In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a presheaf on a category C is a functor F\colon C^\mathrm\to\mathbf. If C is the poset of open sets in a topological space, interpreted as a category, then one recovers the usual notion of presheaf on a topological space. A morphism of presheaves is defined to be a natural transformation of functors. This makes the collection of all presheaves on C into a category, and is an example of a functor category. It is often written as \widehat = \mathbf^ and it is called the category of presheaves on C. A functor into \widehat is sometimes called a profunctor. A presheaf that is naturally isomorphic to the contravariant hom-functor Hom(–, ''A'') for some object ''A'' of C is called a representable presheaf. Some authors refer to a functor F\colon C^\mathrm\to\mathbf as a \mathbf-valued presheaf. Examples * A simplicial set is a Set-valued presheaf on the simplex category C=\Delta. * A directed multigraph is a presheaf on the catego ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prestack
In algebraic geometry, a prestack ''F'' over a category ''C'' equipped with some Grothendieck topology is a category together with a functor ''p'': ''F'' → ''C'' satisfying a certain lifting condition and such that (when the fibers are groupoids) locally isomorphic objects are isomorphic. A stack is a prestack with effective descents, meaning local objects may be patched together to become a global object. Prestacks that appear in nature are typically stacks but some naively constructed prestacks (e.g., groupoid scheme or the prestack of projectivized vector bundles) may not be stacks. Prestacks may be studied on their own or passed to stacks. Since a stack is a prestack, all the results on prestacks are valid for stacks as well. Throughout the article, we work with a fixed base category ''C''; for example, ''C'' can be the category of all schemes over some fixed scheme equipped with some Grothendieck topology. Informal definition Let ''F'' be a category and suppose it is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Transformation
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 (both from C to 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Higher Category Theory
In mathematics, higher category theory is the part of category theory at a ''higher order'', which means that some equalities are replaced by explicit morphism, arrows in order to be able to explicitly study the structure behind those equalities. Higher category theory is often applied in algebraic topology (especially in homotopy theory), where one studies algebraic Invariant (mathematics), invariants of topological space, spaces, such as the Fundamental groupoid, fundamental . In higher category theory, the concept of higher categorical structures, such as (), allows for a more robust treatment of homotopy theory, enabling one to capture finer homotopical distinctions, such as differentiating two topological spaces that have the same fundamental group but differ in their higher homotopy groups. This approach is particularly valuable when dealing with spaces with intricate topological features, such as the Eilenberg-MacLane space. Strict higher categories An ordinary category (m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
