Expansion of the categorical point of view on many areas of the mathematics and mathematical physics will cause to deeper understanding of genuine features of these problems. New applications of categorical methods are connected with new additional structures on categories. One of such structures, the double category, is considered in this article. The double category structure is defined as generalization of the bicategory structure. It is shown that double categories exist in the topological and ordinary quantum field theories, and for dynamical systems with inputs and outputs. Morphisms of all these double categories are not maps of sets.
This paper introduces the notion of weakly globular double categories, a particular class of strict double categories, as a way to model weak 2-categories; it explores its use in defining a double category of fractions, and shows that the sub-2-category of groupoidal weakly globular double categories forms an algebraic model of homotopy 2-types.
In this thesis, we introduce Cartesian double categories, motivated by the work of Carboni, Kelly, Walters, and Wood on Cartesian bicategories. Moving from bicategories to the slightly more generalized notion of double categories allows us to set the whole theory inside the welcoming 2-category of double categories, and to overcome technical problems that were caused by working with left adjoints inside a general bicategory. Cartesian double categories that are also fibrant are of particular interest to us. After describing some important properties of Cartesian and fibrant double categories, …
This is the second installment of a two part series of papers studying free globularly generated double categories. We introduce the canonical double projection construction. The canonical double projection translates information from free globularly generated double categories to double categories defined through the same set of globular and vertical data. We use the canonical double projection to define compatible formal linear functorial extensions of the Haagerup standard form and the Connes fusion operation to possibly-infinite index morphisms between factors. We use the canonical double …
In this work, we explore a double categorical framework for categories of enriched graphs, categories and the newly introduced notion of cocategories. A fundamental goal is to establish an enrichment of V-categories in V-cocategories, which generalizes the so-called Sweedler theory relatively to an enrichment of algebras in coalgebras. The language employed is that of V-matrices, and an interplay between the double categorical and bicategorical perspective provides a high-level flexibility for demonstrating essential features of these dual structures. Furthermore, we investigate an enriched fi…
Written to be contributed as the "mathematical modeling" chapter of a book, edited by Elaine Landry, to be titled "Categories for the Working Philosopher". In this chapter, category theory is presented as a mathematical modeling framework that highlights the relationships between objects, rather than the objects in themselves. A working definition of model is given, and several examples of mathematical objects, such as vector spaces, groups, and dynamical systems, are considered as categorical models.
Enrichment and internal categories are two different way to generalize the notion of category. As such, enriching double categories (which are categories internal to Cat) is not a clear concepts. One can look at the internal categories of the category of C-enriched categories or the internal C-category in Cat. This concepts, unfortunately, are not powerful enough, even thin (posetal) double categories can't be seen this way. However, an orthogonal investigation, that of the enrichment by a double category, will help relaxing the internal C-category to a incorporate the internal categories of t…
We propose definitions of regular and exact (virtual) double categories, proving a number of results which parallel many basic results in the theory of regular and exact categories. We show that any regular virtual double category admits a factorization system which generalizes the factorization of a functor between categories into a bijective-on-objects functor followed by a fully-faithful functor. Finally, we show that our definition of exact double category is equivalent to an axiom proposed by Wood, and very closely related to the "tight Kleisli objects" studied by Garner and Shulman.
The category of double categories and double functors is equipped with a symmetric closed monoidal structure. For any double category $\mathbb A$, the corresponding internal hom functor $|[ \mathbb A,-]|$ sends a double category $\mathbb B$ to the double category whose 0-cells are the double functors $\mathbb A \to \mathbb B$, whose horizontal and vertical 1-cells are the horizontal and vertical pseudotransformations, respectively, and whose 2-cells are the modifications. Some well-known functors of practical significance are checked to be compatible with this monoidal structure.
A double category of relations is essentially a cartesian equipment with strong, discrete and functorial tabulators and for which certain local products satisfy a Frobenius Law. A double category of relations is equivalent to a double category whose proarrows are relations on some ordinary category admitting a proper and stable factorization system. This characterization is based closely on the recent characterization of double categories of spans due to Aleiferi. The overall development can be viewed as a double-categorical version of that of the notion of a "tabular allegory" or that of a "f…
We extend the basic concepts of Street's formal theory of monads from the setting of 2-categories to that of double categories. In particular, we introduce the double category Mnd(C) of monads in a double category C and define what it means for a double category to admit the construction of free monads. Our main theorem shows that, under some mild conditions, a double category that is a framed bicategory admits the construction of free monads if its horizontal 2-category does. We apply this result to obtain double adjunctions which extend the adjunction between graphs and categories and the ad…
A popular graphical calculus for monoidal categories makes computations tactile and intuitive. Complicated diagram chases can be expressed in a few pictures and discovered by playing with a shoelace. Joyal and Street's proof of the soundness of this calculus says that any deformation of a diagram, any bending of the strings, describes the same morphism. In this paper, we extend the graphical calculus to double categories and proarrow equipments in order to bring the string diagrammatic method to formal category theory. Our main theorem proves this calculus sound with the help of Dawson and Par…
In this paper we consider a notion of pointwise Kan extension in double categories that naturally generalises Dubuc's notion of pointwise Kan extension along enriched functors. We show that, when considered in equipments that admit opcartesian tabulations, it generalises Street's notion of pointwise Kan extension in 2-categories.
This is the first part of a two paper series studying free globularily generated double categories. In this first installment we introduce the free globularily generated double category construction. The free globularily generated double category construction canonically associates to every bicategory together with a possible category of vertical morphisms, a double category fixing this set of initial data in a free and minimal way. We use the free globularily generated double category to study length, free products, and problems of internalization. We use the free globularily generated double…
We develop a theory of double clubs which extends Kelly's theory of clubs to the pseudo double categories of Pare and Grandis. We then show that the club for symmetric strict monoidal categories on Cat extends to a `double club' on the pseudo double category of `categories, functors, profunctors and transformations'.
We study Kan extensions in three weakenings of the Eilenberg-Moore double category associated to a double monad, that was introduced by Grandis and Paré. To be precise, given a normal oplax double monad $T$ on a double category $\mathcal K$, we consider the double categories consisting of pseudo $T$-algebras, `weak' vertical $T$-morphisms, horizontal $T$-morphisms and $T$-cells, where `weak' means either `lax', `colax' or `pseudo'. Denoting these double categories by $\mathsf{Alg}_w T$, where w = l, c or ps accordingly, our main result gives, in each of these cases, conditions ensuring that (p…
This is a first of a series of two papers. Our motive is to tackle the question raised in Böhm's "The Gray Monoidal Product of Double Categories" from Applied Categorical Structures: which would be an alternative notion to intercategories of Grandis and Paré, so that monoids in Böhm's monoidal category $Dbl$ of strict double categories and double pseudo functors be an example of it? Before addressing this question we observe that although bicategories embed into pseudo double categories, this embedding is not monoidal, with the usual notion of a monoidal pseudo double category. We then prove t…
As an example of the categorical apparatus of pseudo algebras over 2-theories, we show that pseudo algebras over the 2-theory of categories can be viewed as pseudo double categories with folding or as appropriate 2-functors into bicategories. Foldings are equivalent to connection pairs, and also to thin structures if the vertical and horizontal morphisms coincide. In a sense, the squares of a double category with folding are determined in a functorial way by the 2-cells of the horizontal 2-category. As a special case, strict 2-algebras with one object and everything invertible are crossed modu…
We use double categories to obtain a single theorem characterizing certain exponentiable morphisms of small categories, topological spaces, locales, and posets.
It is shown how double categories provide a direct abstract approach to coloured operads; namely, product-preserving normal lax functors from (Pb C)^op (the opposite of the double category of pullback squares in C) to Cat (the double category of functors and profunctors) can be seen as generalized operads, the standard ones arising when C = Set_f. In this context, generalized symmetric monoidal categories are considered, in particular those arising from indexed categories with sums or products.
A concrete computation -- twelve slidings with sixteen tiles -- reveals that certain commutativity phenomena occur in every double semigroup. This can be seen as a sort of Eckmann-Hilton argument, but it does not use units. The result implies in particular that all cancellative double semigroups and all inverse double semigroups are commutative. Stepping up one dimension, the result is used to prove that all strictly associative two-fold monoidal categories (with weak units) are degenerate symmetric. In particular, strictly associative one-object, one-arrow 3-groupoids (with weak units) cannot…
We provide a definition of enrichment that applies to a wide variety of categorical structures, generalizing Leinster's theory of enriched $T$-multicategories. As a sample of newly enrichable structures, we describe in detail the examples of enriched monoidal categories and enriched double categories, with a focus on monoidal double categories as broadly convenient bases of enrichment.
We solve the word problem for free double categories without equations between generators by translating it to the word problem for 2-categories. This yields a quadratic algorithm deciding the equality of diagrams in a free double category. The translation is of interest in its own right since and can for instance be used to reason about double categories with the language of 2-categories, sidestepping the pinwheel problem. It also shows that although double categories are formally more general than 2-categories, they are not actually more expressive, explaining the rarity of applications of t…
Transformation groupoids associated to group actions capture the interplay between global and local symmetries of structures described in set-theoretic terms. This paper examines the analogous situation for structures described in category-theoretic terms, where symmetry is expressed as the action of a 2-group G (equivalently, a categorical group) on a category C. It describes the construction of a transformation groupoid in diagrammatic terms, and considers this construction internal to Cat, the category of categories. The result is a double category C//G which describes the local symmetries …
In this paper we introduce a description of ordered groupoids as a particular type of double categories. This enables us to turn Lawson's correspondence between ordered groupoids and left-cancellative categories into a biequivalence. We use this to identify which ordered functors are maps of sites in the sense that they give rise to geometric morphisms between the induced sheaf categories, and establish a Comparison Lemma for maps between Ehresmann sites.
We characterize double adjunctions in terms of presheaves and universal squares, and then apply these characterizations to free monads and Eilenberg--Moore objects in double categories. We improve upon our earlier result in "Monads in Double Categories", JPAA 215:6, pages 1174-1197, 2011, to conclude: if a double category with cofolding admits the construction of free monads in its horizontal 2-category, then it also admits the construction of free monads as a double category. We also prove that a double category admits Eilenberg--Moore objects if and only if a certain parameterized presheaf i…
We give a rather general construction of double categories and so, under further conditions, double groupoids, from a structure we call a `double module'. We also give a homotopical construction of a double groupoid from a triad consisting of a space, two subspaces, and a set of base points, under a condition which also implies that this double groupoid contains two second relative homotopy groups.
We study the construction of premonoidal categories, where the pentagon relation fails, through representations of finite group algebras and their quantum doubles. Both finite group algebras and their quantum doubles have a finite number of irreducible representations. We show that in each case there are at least $2^{n-1}$ inequivalent premonoidal categories of representations, where $n$ is the number of irreducible representations. By construction, for the case of finite group algebras the categories are symmetric whereas for the quantum doubles the categories are braided.
We introduce Artin-Wraith glueing and locally closed inclusions in double categories. Examples include locales, toposes, topological spaces, categories, and posets. With appropriate assumptions, we show that locally closed inclusions are exponentiable, and the exponentials are constructed via Artin-Wraith glueing. Thus, we obtain a single theorem establishing the exponentiability of locally closed inclusions in these five cases.
This document is centered around a main idea: simplicial categories, by which we mean simplicial objects in the category of categories, can be treated as a two-fold categorical structure and their double category theory is homotopically meaningful. The most well-known two-fold structures are double categories, typically used to organize bimodules in various contexts. However there is no double category of spaces even though notions of bimodule are conceivable. We first remedy this defect of double category theory by constructing a meaningful simplicial category of spaces. Then we develop the a…
Category theory is a branch of mathematics that provides a formal framework for understanding the relationship between mathematical structures. To this end, a category not only incorporates the data of the desired objects, but also "morphisms", which capture how different objects interact with each other. Category theory has found many applications in mathematics and in computer science, for example in functional programming. Double categories are a natural generalization of categories which incorporate the data of two separate classes of morphisms, allowing a more nuanced representation of re…
In this paper we obtain several model structures on {\bf DblCat}, the category of small double categories. Our model structures have three sources. We first transfer across a categorification-nerve adjunction. Secondly, we view double categories as internal categories in {\bf Cat} and take as our weak equivalences various internal equivalences defined via Grothendieck topologies. Thirdly, {\bf DblCat} inherits a model structure as a category of algebras over a 2-monad. Some of these model structures coincide and the different points of view give us further results about cofibrant replacements …
