Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 23 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In a Grothendieck topos defineThe coproduct universal property gives , naturally. Thus . On any sheaf presentation, is the composite of the constant-presheaf functor with sheafification. The former preserves finite limits pointwise, and the latter is left exact, so preserves finite limits. Therefore these functors define a geometric morphism .
For uniqueness, let be any such geometric morphism. Its inverse image is a left adjoint and preserves the terminal object. Every set has the canonical coproduct decomposition , soThese isomorphisms respect all functions between sets, giving a natural isomorphism . The right adjoint is then unique up to the corresponding natural isomorphism, so . There is a unique geometric morphism to sets, up to isomorphism, called the global sections geometric morphism. This also applies to the degenerate topos.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 23 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A geometric formula is built from atomic formulas, including equality, using finite conjunctions, arbitrary set-indexed disjunctions and existential quantification in a finite variable context. Truth is the empty conjunction and falsity the empty disjunction. A geometric theory is a set of sequents between such formulas over a many-sorted signature. The context supplies the universal force of an axiom; unrestricted universal quantification, implication and negation are not formula constructors in this fragment.
These choices are exactly suited to inverse image functors of geometric morphisms. Finite-limit preservation handles equality and conjunction; colimit and image preservation handle disjunction and existential quantification. Therefore an inverse image carries an internal model of a geometric theory to another model.
Construct the geometric syntactic category as follows. Objects are formulas in context , modulo provable renaming and equivalence. A morphism to is an equivalence class of formulas that are provably total and single-valued:The last notation abbreviates componentwise equality. Identity is equality of the context variables; composition is existential conjunction over the intermediate tuple. The category has finite limits, formed through conjunction and equality.
Give it the geometric syntactic topology . A family of arrows represented by into covers whenPullback stability is substitution, and transitivity comes from distributing existential conjunction through the covering disjunctions. Thus the generated sieves define a Grothendieck topology. Empty covers impose the interpretation of falsity as the initial object.
The classifying topos isIts universal model assigns a sort the sheafified representable of , functions their definable graph morphisms and relations their definable subobjects. The syntactic covering conditions make the axioms valid in this model.
For the universal property, interpreting formulas in a model in a Grothendieck topos gives a finite-limit-preserving, -continuous functor : covers go to jointly epimorphic families precisely because the relevant sequents hold. The Diaconescu equivalence for geometric morphisms associates to this functor a geometric morphism . Conversely, pulling back along a geometric morphism gives a model. The constructions on models and their homomorphisms are inverse up to natural isomorphism, yieldingnaturally in . This proves the required classifying property, not merely classification of set-valued models.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 25 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Suppose is a representable functor, with a natural isomorphism . Put . For any in the comma category , the representing bijection gives a unique with . By naturality, , exactly the condition for . Hence is an initial object.
Conversely, if is an initial object, thenis a bijection for each : existence and uniqueness are precisely initiality applied to every . For , , proving naturality. Thus is a universal element and is a representation of a functor. Being representable is equivalent to the singleton comma category having an initial object.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 18 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For the monad , an algebra for a monad is with and . A morphism of algebras for a monad satisfies . These objects and arrows form the Eilenberg-Moore category .
The free algebra functor sends to and to . The monad identities verify the algebra laws. For the forgetful functor , the free adjunction iswith inverse . The algebra law makes the latter an monad algebra morphism. The identities and prove the bijection.
In the category of adjunctions inducing a fixed monad, objects are adjunctions with their induced monad identified with . A morphism to is a functor between the right-hand categories satisfying , and compatibility with units and counits. With these strict identifications, defineThe triangle identities give the unit algebra law; naturality of at gives the multiplication law. Naturality at makes an monad algebra morphism. Moreover , because , and is the free-adjunction counit at . Hence is a morphism into the Eilenberg-Moore adjunction.
For any other such , its underlying object at must be . Counit compatibility forces its algebra action to be , and the forgetful functor, which is a faithful functor, forces . Thus . This proves terminality of the Eilenberg-Moore adjunction. If adjunctions are specified only up to coherent isomorphisms, the same argument gives uniqueness up to the corresponding compatible natural isomorphism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
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 mapsare bijections with inverse . For , evaluation of is , proving naturality. Hence the identity functor on sets is represented by a singleton.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
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 comparisonis 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 3 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose a representing object and a natural isomorphism . Using the assumed small coproducts in a category, defineFor 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 , givesThese 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 22 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
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, defineThe 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:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 22 6 c iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
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:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 122 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Define the length of a formal tensor expression recursively byThe 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, andon 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 isomorphismobtained 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.