If has chosen representations , the Yoneda lemma determines a unique functor on morphisms by . This makes the representing natural isomorphisms natural in .
Natural bijection 2026-10-06
A natural bijection between set-valued functors is a natural transformation whose component functions are bijections. Their inverse functions are automatically natural, so it is a natural isomorphism.
A functor is a representable functor if some object admits a natural isomorphism . Here the representable is covariant.
For the identity functor on the Category of sets, choose the singleton . The evaluation maps
are bijections with inverse . For , evaluation of is , proving naturality. Hence the identity functor on sets is represented by a singleton.
Let be a representable functor, and let be the categorical limit of a small diagram . A morphism is uniquely equivalent to a family satisfying for every .
Such compatible families are exactly the elements of the categorical limit of the set-valued diagram . Consequently the canonical comparison
is a bijection. Transporting it through the representing natural isomorphism proves that preserves every small limit that exists in . This proves that covariant representables preserve limits. For an empty diagram this says that maps into a terminal object form a singleton.
Choose a representing object and a natural isomorphism . Using the assumed small coproducts in a category, define
For a function , define by . The coproduct in a category uniqueness clause proves preservation of identities and composition, so this is a functor.
Restriction to the coproduct summands, followed by , gives
These bijections are natural in by the definition of , and natural in by naturality of . They establish , the left adjoint to a covariant representable functor. The empty set is sent to the empty coproduct.
For the categorical presheaf , its category of elements has objects with . A morphism is a morphism satisfying . Composition in a category is inherited from : if also , then . The identity morphisms are inherited as well. The forgetful functor sends to and to .
A universal element is a pair for which each is uniquely of the form for . Thus is a terminal object of the category of elements, with the variance appropriate to a categorical presheaf.
Given a universal element, define
The defining uniqueness makes each map a bijection; gives naturality for . Hence is a natural isomorphism and is a representable presheaf. Conversely, from a natural isomorphism , take . The Yoneda lemma gives ; its bijectivity makes a universal element. Therefore the two descriptions coincide:
If is fully faithful, the criterion proved for a right adjoint says that the adjunction counit of is a natural isomorphism. Its component at is precisely the algebra action . In particular, its component at the free algebra for a monad has underlying morphism . Thus every is an isomorphism, and the natural transformation is invertible. This closes the cycle and proves all four conditions equivalent:
Define the length of a formal tensor expression recursively by
The canonical strict monoidal functor sends to , sends every associator and unitor to an identity braid, and sends to the block braiding . The pentagon and triangle become identity equations; the braiding axioms become the corresponding block-braid equations. Thus the assignment respects the defining relations, and
on the nose. It is a braided monoidal functor with identity comparison maps.
To prove that is an equivalence of categories, choose a standard parenthesization of copies of , with . On , define the image of by canonically exposing the th and st factors, applying there, and restoring the chosen parentheses. The monoidal coherence theorem makes this independent of the structural rebracketing. Crossings on disjoint pairs commute by the tensor interchange law. The adjacent braid group relations follows from the hexagon laws and naturality of the braiding, as in the Yang–Baxter calculation below. Hence these assignments give group homomorphisms and a functor .
Equip with the canonical rebracketing maps . Their monoidal functor axioms follow from the monoidal coherence theorem; the block-braiding compatibility follows by iterating the two hexagon laws. Therefore is a strong monoidal functor compatible with the braiding.
We have , including its comparison maps. For every formal expression , there is a canonical structural isomorphism
obtained by rebracketing and inserting the units appearing in . These maps form a natural isomorphism . To check naturality, it suffices to check the generating morphisms: for associators and unitors it is exactly monoidal coherence; for it follows from the hexagon expansion into the elementary crossings defining . Composition and tensor product then preserve the equation. The same structural coherence shows that is monoidal.
Thus has a specified quasi-inverse and is the required equivalence:
Only ordinary monoidal coherence, together with the defining braiding axioms, has been used; a separate braided coherence theorem is unnecessary.