Concerning the basic question raised by Hendryk Pfeiffer : If C is a symmetric monoidal category, it seems that there does not exist any category with finite limits whose representations in C are the C-enriched categories. An object in C is not suitable to serve as the Space of Objects of a C-category because the latter would require a well-behaved Diagonal Map. Unless of course C is cartesian. "Internal category" in a cartesian category is a coherent concept, as is "enriched category " in a general monoidal category because the latter is always presumed to be itself enriched in the cartesian category of sets where the spaces of objects are taken. I know of no way, for example, to define the enriched hom of a strong functor category without using the diagonal map on the space of objects of the domain because the very definition of natural transformation requires that the same thing ocurs in two different places. (Of course the problem is compounded for hypothetical enriched n-categories). The combination of internal and enriched features is implicit in mathematics. The most immediate way of making it explicit would seem to be simply to take as basic C->E , an enrichment of a monoidal category in a cartesian category. For any category based on that, any object I from E can parameterize its objects and any object V from C can parameterize its homs. (Giving a meaning to "smooth" parameterizations like these is after all the basic point of both enrichment and internalizations, because they do occur). Relative to such contexts, a suitable notion of theory can probably be found. There are plenty of examples: C= chain complexes in a topos E ... Are there publications which treat these issues ? A similar problem arises with the "comprehension scheme" when we try to set up an adjunction between modules (actions, presheaves) and "fibrations" . This does not seem routine when not only the fibers but also the base and the hypothetical total are to be, for example , Ab-enriched. Is there a coherent approach to this ? Note that for example the "trivial extension" idea of adjointing infinitesimals serves well as a way of making modules into rings (additive categories) but does not appear as any kind of cousin to the notion of fibered category.
A similar problem arises with the "comprehension scheme" when we try to set up an adjunction between modules (actions, presheaves) and "fibrations" . This does not seem routine when not only the fibers but also the base and the hypothetical total are to be, for example , Ab-enriched. Is there a coherent approach to this ? Note that for example the "trivial extension" idea of adjointing infinitesimals serves well as a way of making modules into rings (additive categories) but does not appear as any kind of cousin to the notion of fibered category.
A situation which I mentioned earlier in an entirely different context might be relevant here. It is described most conceptually in ``Differential homological algebra'' by J. C. Moore, in the Nice 1970 congress proceedings. There, a fibration under a monoid G and over a comonoid B is described as an object E with an action of G and a coaction of B which are compatible; there is a further condition which expresses principality of the fibration. The condition actually forces E to be (isomorphic to) G (x) B, so one can fix all objects and let only morphisms vary. In the cartesian situation every B has a unique comonoid structure and a coaction of B on E amounts to a map E -> B so that one recovers the ``standard'' principal fibration concept, at least when G is a group. An intermediate example is given by taking homology of the cartesian example; there, the monoid side is in addition a Hopf object, i.~e. has itself a compatible comonoid structure. However the general theory works without this extra structure. A ``comprehension scheme''-like feature is the fact that (under certain conditions) for every monoid G there is a universal E and B (the bar construction) and for every B there is a universal E and G (the cobar construction). In the abelian situation, for a dg algebra G and a dg coalgebra B, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the E as above and the so called twisting cochains G -> B. All of the above seems to correspond to groupoids which are a product of a one object groupoid and a discrete groupoid. There is a notion of Hopf algebroid which is more general. Does anybody know about bar-cobar-like constructions in this case?
participants (2)
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Mamuka Jibladze -
wlawvere@buffalo.edu