Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 23 8 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume the coequalizers from part (b) exist and write them . The underlying arrow of the comparison-adjunction unit isWe first relate it to the monad algebra action. Naturality of , the coequalizer equation and a monad unit law giveIn , is itself a split coequalizer of . Indeed,For an explicit universal-property proof, if satisfies , then obeysIts uniqueness follows by composing any equation with .
Now equalizes and . If it is a coequalizer, then and are coequalizers of the same pair. Their unique comparison map is , since , and is therefore invertible. Conversely, if is invertible, is an isomorphic copy of the coequalizer , so it is a coequalizer too.
The forgetful functor reflects isomorphisms: if an monad algebra morphism has an inverse as an underlying arrow, the equation rearranges to , making that inverse an monad algebra morphism. Thus underlying invertibility here is exactly invertibility of the unit component. For all monad algebras together, the comparison-adjunction unit criterion isEquivalently, the necessary-and-sufficient conditions for a left adjoint with invertible unit are existence of the coequalizers in part (b) and their preservation by . No preservation of arbitrary coequalizers is required.