A functor admitting a further left adjoint must itself be a right adjoint and preserve all existing categorical limits. A functor admitting a further right adjoint must preserve all existing colimits. Failure to preserve a single terminal object, equalizer, initial object or coproduct therefore rules out the corresponding extension. In the adjoint chain for the objects of a category, connected components fail an equalizer and the indiscrete category functor fails a binary coproduct.
A presheaf on a category is a functor . A morphism induces the restriction map , reversing direction. The indexing category need not be small. For the category of open subsets of a topological space, this specializes to a presheaf of sets on a topological space.
Internal Horn models are finite-limit-preserving functors out of the Cartesian syntactic category. Since that category has finite limits, these are exactly flat functors; the presheaf Diaconescu equivalence for geometric morphisms proves the classifying property. Equivalently the classifier is the covariant functor category on finitely presented set-based models.
With the quotient convention, projective space represents the functor of surjections from a rank- free sheaf to a line bundle, modulo isomorphisms of the target compatible with the map. On an affine base the target may be a nontrivial rank-one projective module, so a tuple of elements generating the unit ideal is only the description when that target is trivial. Where the image of the th basis vector generates the target, divide the other images by it to get the usual affine coordinates. Infinitesimal variations of the quotient form and give the Euler sequence.
In an abelian category with enough projectives, a projective object has a resolution concentrated in degree zero, so every first left derived functor vanishes on it. Conversely choose with projective and use the additive functor with target the opposite of the category of abelian groups. This functor is right exact in that target. If , the derived exact sequence makes monic, meaning that is surjective in abelian groups. Extending gives a retraction of , so the sequence splits and is a direct summand of the projective .
For a natural transformation of set-valued functors, form the pushout by taking two copies of each and identifying the two copies of every element in the image of . Naturality makes all induced maps well-defined. If is outside that image, its two copies remain distinct. Thus the two maps agree after but differ at , proving is not an epimorphism. Conversely, componentwise surjective functions allow cancellation at every object, proving that is an epimorphism. This argument does not assume a natural choice of preimages.
Reflexive coequalizer 2026-10-05
A reflexive coequalizer is a coequalizer of a reflexive pair, meaning a parallel pair with a common section satisfying . A functor preserves reflexive coequalizers when it takes every such coequalizer to a coequalizer of the image pair.
Regular functor 2026-10-14
A functor between regular categories is regular if it preserves finite limits and regular epimorphisms. It then preserves image factorizations, since finite-limit preservation preserves monomorphisms. A representable functor is regular exactly when is projective with respect to regular epimorphisms. Regularity of a functor does not alone imply faithfulness or reflection of isomorphisms.
A functor is initial if restriction preserves categorical limits for diagrams in a category with codomain . To test necessity, view as such a diagram. Its limit is a singleton, since the colimit of the corresponding representable presheaf is the connected-component set of the slice , which has a terminal object. The restricted colimit is the connected-component set of . Thus that comma category is nonempty and connected. Sufficiency follows from cone restriction along an initial functor.
A monad morphism induces a functor between Eilenberg-Moore categories, identical on underlying objects and arrows. Its unit equation gives the restricted algebra's unit law. Naturality and the multiplication equation give . Naturality also preserves algebra morphisms.
For a functor , restriction of presheaves is faithful exactly when every is a retract in a category of some . Sufficiency follows by recovering a natural-transformation component at from its component at using the retraction. For necessity, the subpresheaf of consisting of arrows factoring through some becomes the whole representable after restriction. Faithfulness of a geometric inverse image reflects such a monomorphism being an isomorphism. The identity of must therefore factor through a , giving the retraction.
Right-adjoint criterion using comma-category colimits Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
A functor preserving the possibly large colimits of the projections has a right adjoint exactly when all those colimits exist. The universal cocone makes its vertex a terminal object of , hence a representation of .
An additive functor between abelian categories is right exact functor when it sends every exact sequence to an exact sequence . Equivalently, it preserves cokernels in a category, since additivity already preserves finite biproducts. This is the convention used in constructing left derived functors. Left exactness preserves the initial part instead. Contravariant Hom becomes a right exact functor covariant functor with target the opposite abelian category.
An additive functor between abelian categories is right exact when it preserves categorical cokernels, equivalently when it sends every exact sequence ending in zero to an exact sequence ending in zero. Additivity and preservation of cokernels in a category imply preservation of finite colimits. The additivity assumption is part of the ordinary left derived functor construction.
Right monoid action 2026-10-07
A right monoid action has and . It is a contravariant functor from the one-object category of the monoid to sets. The regular right action is multiplication on itself. Products of right actions use the diagonal action.
Simplicial set Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A simplicial set is a functor from the opposite of the simplex category to sets. Its face and degeneracy maps satisfy the simplicial identities.
Slice category 2026-10-07
The slice over has morphisms as objects and commuting triangles as arrows . Its terminal object is , regardless of whether has a terminal object. It is the comma category , viewing as a functor from the terminal category.
A natural transformation assigns a set of points over every element . These fibers form a functor on the category of elements of . Conversely, a functor on the category of elements gives as the disjoint union of its values over all . The two constructions are inverse up to natural isomorphism. Smallness of makes the category of elements small and allows this description to transfer Cartesian closure to every slice.