Adjoint functorsIn mathematics, specifically , adjunction is a relationship that two functors may exhibit, intuitively corresponding to a weak form of equivalence between two related categories. Two functors that stand in this relationship are known as adjoint functors, one being the left adjoint and the other the right adjoint. Pairs of adjoint functors are ubiquitous in mathematics and often arise from constructions of "optimal solutions" to certain problems (i.e.
Forgetful functorIn mathematics, in the area of , a forgetful functor (also known as a stripping functor) 'forgets' or drops some or all of the input's structure or properties 'before' mapping to the output. For an algebraic structure of a given signature, this may be expressed by curtailing the signature: the new signature is an edited form of the old one. If the signature is left as an empty list, the functor is simply to take the underlying set of a structure.
Higher category theoryIn mathematics, higher category theory is the part of at a higher order, which means that some equalities are replaced by explicit 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 invariants of spaces, such as their fundamental . An ordinary has and morphisms, which are called 1-morphisms in the context of higher category theory.
Hom functorIn mathematics, specifically in , hom-sets (i.e. sets of morphisms between ) give rise to important functors to the . These functors are called hom-functors and have numerous applications in category theory and other branches of mathematics. Let C be a (i.e. a for which hom-classes are actually sets and not proper classes). For all objects A and B in C we define two functors to the as follows: {| class=wikitable |- ! Hom(A, –) : C → Set ! Hom(–, B) : C → Set |- | This is a covariant functor given by: Hom(A, –) maps each object X in C to the set of morphisms, Hom(A, X) Hom(A, –) maps each morphism f : X → Y to the function Hom(A, f) : Hom(A, X) → Hom(A, Y) given by for each g in Hom(A, X).
Exact functorIn mathematics, particularly homological algebra, an exact functor is a functor that preserves short exact sequences. Exact functors are convenient for algebraic calculations because they can be directly applied to presentations of objects. Much of the work in homological algebra is designed to cope with functors that fail to be exact, but in ways that can still be controlled. Let P and Q be abelian categories, and let F: P→Q be a covariant additive functor (so that, in particular, F(0) = 0).
Fundamental groupoidIn algebraic topology, the fundamental groupoid is a certain topological invariant of a topological space. It can be viewed as an extension of the more widely-known fundamental group; as such, it captures information about the homotopy type of a topological space. In terms of , the fundamental groupoid is a certain functor from the category of topological spaces to the category of groupoids. Let X be a topological space. Consider the equivalence relation on continuous paths in X in which two continuous paths are equivalent if they are homotopic with fixed endpoints.
Derived functorIn mathematics, certain functors may be derived to obtain other functors closely related to the original ones. This operation, while fairly abstract, unifies a number of constructions throughout mathematics. It was noted in various quite different settings that a short exact sequence often gives rise to a "long exact sequence". The concept of derived functors explains and clarifies many of these observations. Suppose we are given a covariant left exact functor F : A → B between two A and B.
FunctorIn mathematics, specifically , a functor is a mapping between . 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 is applied.
MorphismIn mathematics, particularly in , a morphism is a structure-preserving map from one mathematical structure to another one of the same type. The notion of morphism recurs in much of contemporary mathematics. In set theory, morphisms are functions; in linear algebra, linear transformations; in group theory, group homomorphisms; in analysis and topology, continuous functions, and so on.
GroupoidIn mathematics, especially in and homotopy theory, a groupoid (less often Brandt groupoid or virtual group) generalises the notion of group in several equivalent ways. A groupoid can be seen as a: Group with a partial function replacing the binary operation; in which every morphism is invertible. A category of this sort can be viewed as augmented with a unary operation on the morphisms, called inverse by analogy with group theory. A groupoid where there is only one object is a usual group.
Functor categoryIn , a branch of mathematics, a functor category is a category where the objects are the functors and the morphisms are natural transformations between the functors (here, is another object in the category). Functor categories are of interest for two main reasons: many commonly occurring categories are (disguised) functor categories, so any statement proved for general functor categories is widely applicable; every category embeds in a functor category (via the Yoneda embedding); the functor category often has nicer properties than the original category, allowing certain operations that were not available in the original setting.
Category (mathematics)In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a ) 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 , whose objects are sets and whose arrows are functions. is a branch of mathematics that seeks to generalize all of mathematics in terms of categories, independent of what their objects and arrows represent.
Monoidal categoryIn mathematics, a monoidal category (or tensor category) is a equipped with a bifunctor that is associative up to a natural isomorphism, and an I that is both a left and right identity for ⊗, again up to a natural isomorphism. The associated natural isomorphisms are subject to certain coherence conditions, which ensure that all the relevant s commute. The ordinary tensor product makes vector spaces, abelian groups, R-modules, or R-algebras into monoidal categories. Monoidal categories can be seen as a generalization of these and other examples.
Enriched categoryIn , a branch of mathematics, an enriched category generalizes the idea of a by replacing hom-sets with objects from a general . It is motivated by the observation that, in many practical applications, the hom-set often has additional structure that should be respected, e.g., that of being a vector space of morphisms, or a topological space of morphisms. In an enriched category, the set of morphisms (the hom-set) associated with every pair of objects is replaced by an in some fixed monoidal category of "hom-objects".
Zero morphismIn , a branch of mathematics, a zero morphism is a special kind of morphism exhibiting properties like the morphisms to and from a zero object. Suppose C is a , and f : X → Y is a morphism in C. The morphism f is called a constant morphism (or sometimes left zero morphism) if for any W in C and any g, h : W → X, fg = fh. Dually, f is called a coconstant morphism (or sometimes right zero morphism) if for any object Z in C and any g, h : Y → Z, gf = hf. A zero morphism is one that is both a constant morphism and a coconstant morphism.
Category of modulesIn algebra, given a ring R, the category of left modules over R is the whose are all left modules over R and whose morphisms are all module homomorphisms between left R-modules. For example, when R is the ring of integers Z, it is the same thing as the . The category of right modules is defined in a similar way. One can also define the category of bimodules over a ring R but that category is equivalent to the category of left (or right) modules over the enveloping algebra of R (or over the opposite of that).
Presheaf (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, a presheaf on a is a functor . If 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 into a category, and is an example of a . It is often written as . A functor into is sometimes called a profunctor.
Category of ringsIn mathematics, the category of rings, denoted by Ring, is the whose objects are rings (with identity) and whose morphisms are ring homomorphisms (that preserve the identity). Like many categories in mathematics, the category of rings is , meaning that the class of all rings is proper. The category Ring is a meaning that the objects are sets with additional structure (addition and multiplication) and the morphisms are functions that preserve this structure.
Lie groupoidIn mathematics, a Lie groupoid is a groupoid where the set of s and the set of morphisms are both manifolds, all the operations (source and target, composition, identity-assigning map and inversion) are smooth, and the source and target operations are submersions. A Lie groupoid can thus be thought of as a "many-object generalization" of a Lie group, just as a groupoid is a many-object generalization of a group. Accordingly, while Lie groups provide a natural model for (classical) continuous symmetries, Lie groupoids are often used as model for (and arise from) generalised, point-dependent symmetries.
Sheaf (mathematics)In mathematics, a sheaf (: sheaves) is a tool for systematically tracking data (such as sets, abelian groups, rings) attached to the open sets of a topological space and defined locally with regard to them. For example, for each open set, the data could be the ring of continuous functions defined on that open set. Such data is well behaved in that it can be restricted to smaller open sets, and also the data assigned to an open set is equivalent to all collections of compatible data assigned to collections of smaller open sets covering the original open set (intuitively, every piece of data is the sum of its parts).
