On 5/30/10 12:50 PM, jim stasheff wrote:
Peter May wrote:
DeTeXing an exercise I routinely assign, here is an example of an isomorphism of categories that is not `accidental' in Peter Johnstone's sense and is always used in practice as an isomorphism and not merely an equivalence.
The fundamental theorem of Galois theory:
Let G = Gal(E/F) be the Galois group of a finite Galois extension E/F. Define an isomorphism of categories between the category of intermediate fields F\subset K\subset E and field maps K >--> L that fix F pointwise and the category of orbits G/H and G-maps between them.
and an isomprhic category of coverings spaces such that...
jim No-no, that is in fact the very next exercise:
Covering space theory: Requiring covering spaces of a (well-behaved) connected topological space B to be connected, let \sC ov(B) be the category of covering spaces of B and maps over B. If G is the fundamental group of B, then the orbit category of G is {\em equivalent}, not {\em isomorphic}, to \sC ov(B). Sketch the proof. (Hint: use a universal cover of B to construct a skeleton of the category \sC ov(B).) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]