arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Francis Borceux.
We describe a pretorsion theory in the category $Cat$ of small categories: the torsion objects are the groupoids, while the torsion-free objects are the skeletal categories, i.e., those categories in which every isomorphism is an automorphism. We infer these results from two unexpected properties of coequalizers in $Cat$ that identify pairs of objects: they are faithful and reflect isomorphisms.
We propose a construction of a stable category for any pretorsion theory in a lextensive category. We prove the universal property of the stable category, that extends previous results obtained for the stable category of internal preorders in a pretopos. Some examples are provided in the categories of topological spaces and of (small) categories.
In a coherent category, the posets of subobjects have very strong properties. We emphasize the validity of these properties, in general categories, for well-behaved classes of subobjects. As an example of application, we investigate the problem of the various torsion theories which can be universally associated with a pretorsion one.
We prove that the stable category associated with the category $\mathsf{PreOrd}(\mathbb C)$ of internal preorders in a pretopos $\mathbb C$ satisfies a universal property. The canonical functor from $\mathsf{PreOrd}(\mathbb C)$ to the stable category $\mathsf{Stab}(\mathbb C)$ universally transforms a pretorsion theory in $\mathsf{PreOrd}(\mathbb C)$ into a classical torsion theory in the pointed category $\mathsf{Stab}(\mathbb C)$. This also gives a categorical insight into the construction of the stable category first considered by Facchini and Finocchiaro in the special case when $\mathbb C$ is the category of sets.
In a recent article Facchini and Finocchiaro considered a natural pretorsion theory in the category of preordered sets inducing a corresponding stable category. In the present work we propose an alternative construction of the stable category of the category $\mathsf{PreOrd} (\mathbb C)$ of internal preorders in any coherent category $\mathbb C$, that enlightens the categorical nature of this notion. When $\mathbb C$ is a pretopos we prove that the quotient functor from the category of internal preorders to the associated stable category preserves finite coproducts. Furthermore, we identify a wide class of pretoposes, including all $σ$-pretoposes and all elementary toposes, with the property that this functor sends any short $\mathcal Z$-exact sequences in $\mathsf{PreOrd} (\mathbb C)$ (where $\mathcal Z$ is a suitable ideal of trivial morphisms) to a short exact sequence in the stable category. These properties will play a fundamental role in proving the universal property of the stable category, that will be the subject of a second article on this topic.
The notion of a group G acting on a group X is well-known. Fixing X, the corresponding functor Act(-,X) is representable by the group [X] of automorphisms of X. The notion of G-action on X has been generalized to the context of a semi-abelian category, but in this general context, the functor Act(-,X) is generally not representable. We investigate the representability of the functor Act(-,X) for the semi-abelian category, dual of the category of pointed objects of a topos E. The representability holds in particular when E is a Boolean topos or a topos of presheaves of sets, but does not hold in general, not even for a Grothendieck topos E.
By defining a closure operator on effective equivalence relations in a regular category $C$, it is possible to establish a bijective correspondence between these closure operators and the regular epireflective subcategories $L$ of $C$. When $C$ is an exact Goursat category this correspondence restricts to a bijection between the Birkhoff closure operators on effective equivalence relations and the Birkhoff subcategories of $C$. In this case it is possible to provide an explicit description of the closure, and to characterise the congruence distributive Goursat categories.