Double groupoids and $2$-groupoids in regular Mal'tsev categories

Abstract

We prove that the category 2-$ \mathrm{Grpd}(\mathscr{C}) $ of internal $2$-groupoids is a Birkhoff subcategory of the category $ \mathrm{Grpd}^2(\mathscr{C}) $ of double groupoids in a regular Mal'tsev category $\mathscr{C}$ with finite colimits. In particular, when $\mathscr{C}$ is a Mal'tsev variety of universal algebras, the category 2-$ \mathrm{Grpd}(\mathscr{C}) $ is also a Mal'tsev variety, of which we describe the corresponding algebraic theory. When $\mathscr{C}$ is a naturally Mal'tsev category, the reflector from $ \mathrm{Grpd}^2(\mathscr{C}) $ to 2-$ \mathrm{Grpd}(\mathscr{C}) $ has an additional property related to the commutator of equivalence relations. We prove that the category 2-$ \mathrm{Grpd}(\mathscr{C}) $ is semi-abelian when $\mathscr{C}$ is semi-abelian, and then provide sufficient conditions for 2-$ \mathrm{Grpd}(\mathscr{C}) $ to be action representable.