How accessible are categories of algebras?

For locally finitely presentable categories it is well known that categories of F-algebras, where F is a finitary endofunctor, are also locally finitely presentable. We prove that this generalizes to locally finitely multipresentable categories. But it fails, in general, for finitely accessible categories: we even present an example of a strongly finitary functor F (one that preserves finitely presentable objects) whose category of F-algebras is not finitely accessible. On the other hand, categories of F-algebras are proved to be ω₁-accessible for all strongly finitary functors—and it is an open problem whether this holds for all finitary functors.     

An embedding theorem for regular Mal'tsev categories

In this paper, we obtain a non-abelian analogue of Lubkin's embedding theorem for abelian categories. Our theorem faithfully embeds any small regular Mal'tsev category $\mathbb{C}$ in an n-th power of a particular locally finitely presentable regular Mal'tsev category. The embedding preserves and reflects finite limits, isomorphisms and regular epimorphisms, as in the case of Barr's embedding theorem for regular categories. Furthermore, we show that we can take n to be the (cardinal) number of subobjects of the terminal object in $\mathbb{C}$.     

Some Remarks on Finitary and Iterative Monads

For every locally finitely presentable category A we introduce finitary Kleisli triples on A and show that they bijectively correspond to finitary monads on A. We illustrate this on free monads and free iterative monads.     

Sublattices of complete lattices with continuity conditions

Various embedding problems of lattices into complete lattices are solved. We prove that for any join-semilattice S with the minimal join-cover refinement property, the ideal lattice Id S of S is both algebraic and dually algebraic. Furthermore, if there are no infinite D-sequences in J(S), then Id S can be embedded into a direct product of finite lower bounded lattices. We also find a system of infinitary identities that characterize sublattices of complete, lower continuous, and join-semidistributive lattices. These conditions are satisfied by any (not necessarily finitely generated) lower bounded lattice and by any locally finite, join-semidistributive lattice. Furthermore, they imply M. Erné’s dual staircase distributivity.On the other hand, we prove that the subspace lattice of any infinite-dimensional vector space cannot be embedded into any ℵ₀-complete, ℵ₀-upper continuous, and ℵ₀-lower continuous lattice. A similar result holds for the lattice of all order-convex subsets of any infinite chain.Dedicated to the memory of Ivan RivalReceived April 4, 2003; accepted in final form June 16, 2004.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Lawvere theories enriched over a general base

We generalise the correspondence between Lawvere theories and finitary monads on in two ways. First, we allow our theories to be enriched in a category V that is locally finitely presentable as a symmetric monoidal closed category: symmetry is convenient but not necessary. And second, we allow the arities of our theories to be finitely presentable objects of a locally finitely presentable V-category A. We call the resulting notion that of a Lawvere A-theory. We extend the correspondence for ordinary Lawvere theories to one between Lawvere A-theories and finitary V-monads on A. We illustrate this with examples leading up to that of the Lawvere -theory for cartesian closed categories, i.e., the -enriched theory on the category for which the models are all small cartesian closed categories. We also briefly investigate change-of-base.     

What is a Finitely Related Object, Categorically?

The concept of a finitely related algebra, as opposed to the ones of finitely presentable and finitely generated ones, is not preserved under categorical equivalences. We propose a categorically well behaved approximation for it in the context of locally presentable categories, which turns out to be a natural counterpart to the (slightly reformulated) categorical definitions of finitely presentable and finitely generated objects. A stronger notion is also defined, which may be considered more natural in the restricted context of algebraic categories, as it corresponds to the classical one when the canonical theory is considered. Both concepts are equivalent to finite presentability when finite generation is added.     

Covariant Isotropy of Grothendieck Toposes and Extensive Categories

We provide an explicit characterization of the covariant isotropy group of any Grothendieck topos, i.e. the group of (extended) inner automorphisms of any sheaf over a small site. In order to do so, we first extend previous techniques for computing covariant isotropy from locally finitely presentable categories to locally presentable categories. As a consequence, we also obtain an explicit characterization of the centre of a Grothendieck topos, i.e. the automorphism group of its identity functor. We conclude by providing a more categorical approach to show that these characterizations also extend to any extensive category.

     

On Generation and Implicit Partial Operations in Locally Presentable Categories

In a locally presentable category seen as a concrete category of structures, we describe the subobjects (resp. the regular, strong subobjects) generated by a subset, first in terms of closure under certain types of implicit partial operations, and then in syntactic terms. This characterizes in particular the locally presentable categories in which various sorts of monos and epis coincide.     

On Pure Quotients and Pure Subobjects

In the theory of accessible categories, pure subobjects, i.e. filtered colimits of split monomorphisms, play an important role. Here we investigate pure quotients, i.e., filtered colimits of split epimorphisms. For example, in abelian, finitely accessible categories, these are precisely the cokernels of pure subobjects, and pure subobjects are precisely the kernels of pure quotients.     

A logic of implications in algebra and coalgebra

Implications in a category can be presented as epimorphisms: an object satisfies the implication iff it is injective with respect to that epimorphism. G. Ro?u formulated a logic for deriving an implication from other implications. We present two versions of implicational logics: a general one and a finitary one (for epimorphisms with finitely presentable domains and codomains). In categories Alg Σ of algebras on a given signature our logic specializes to the implicational logic of R. Quackenbush. In categories Coalg H of coalgebras for a given accessible endofunctor H of sets we derive a logic for implications in the sense of P. Gumm.     

Definable categories

We introduce the notion of a definable category–a category equivalent to a full subcategory of a locally finitely presentable category that is closed under products, directed colimits and pure subobjects. Definable subcategories are precisely the finite-injectivity classes. We prove a 2-duality between the 2-category of small exact categories and the 2-category of definable categories, and provide a new proof of its additive version. We further introduce a third vertex of the 2-category of regular toposes and show that the diagram of 2-(anti-)equivalences between three 2-categories commutes; the corresponding additive triangle is well-known.     

When Does the Rational Torsion Split Off for Finitely Generated Modules

It is well known that the torsion part of any finitely generated module over the formal power series ring K[[X]] is a direct summand. In fact, K[[X]] is an algebra dual to the divided power coalgebra over K and the torsion part of any K[[X]]-module actually identifies with the rational part of that module. More generally, for a certain general enough class of coalgebras—those having only finite dimensional subcomodules—we see that the above phenomenon is preserved: the set of torsion elements of any C ^*-module is exactly the rational submodule. With this starting point in mind, given a coalgebra C we investigate when the rational submodule of any finitely generated left C ^*-module is a direct summand. We prove various properties of coalgebras C having this splitting property. Just like in the K[[X]] case, we see that standard examples of coalgebras with this property are the chain coalgebras which are coalgebras whose lattice of left (or equivalently, right, two-sided) coideals form a chain. We give some representation theoretic characterizations of chain coalgebras, which turn out to make a left-right symmetric concept. In fact, in the main result of this paper we characterize the colocal coalgebras where this splitting property holds non-trivially (i.e. infinite dimensional coalgebras) as being exactly the chain coalgebras. This characterizes the cocommutative coalgebras of this kind. Furthermore, we give characterizations of chain coalgebras in particular cases and construct various and general classes of examples of coalgebras with this splitting property.     

Varieties of Lattices with Geometric Descriptions

A lattice L is spatial if every element of L is a join of completely join-irreducible elements of L (points), and strongly spatial if it is spatial and the minimal coverings of completely join-irreducible elements are well-behaved. Herrmann et al. proved in 1994 that every modular lattice can be embedded, within its variety, into an algebraic and spatial lattice. We extend this result to n-distributive lattices, for fixed n. We deduce that the variety of all n-distributive lattices is generated by its finite members, thus it has a decidable word problem for free lattices. This solves two problems stated by Huhn in 1985. We prove that every modular (resp., n-distributive) lattice embeds within its variety into some strongly spatial lattice. Every lattice which is either algebraic modular spatial or bi-algebraic is strongly spatial. We also construct a lattice that cannot be embedded, within its variety, into any algebraic and spatial lattice. This lattice has a least and a largest element, and it generates a locally finite variety of join-semidistributive lattices.     

Antichain Cutsets of Strongly Connected Posets

Rival and Zaguia showed that the antichain cutsets of a finite Boolean lattice are exactly the level sets. We show that a similar characterization of antichain cutsets holds for any strongly connected poset of locally finite height. As a corollary, we characterize the antichain cutsets in semimodular lattices, supersolvable lattices, Bruhat orders, locally shellable lattices, and many more. We also consider a generalization to strongly connected d-uniform hypergraphs.     

Not every pseudoalgebra is equivalent to a strict one

We describe a finitary 2-monad on a locally finitely presentable 2-category for which not every pseudoalgebra is equivalent to a strict one. This shows that having rank is not a sufficient condition on a 2-monad for every pseudoalgebra to be strictifiable. Our counterexample comes from higher category theory: the strict algebras are strict 3-categories, and the pseudoalgebras are a type of semi-strict 3-category lying in between Gray-categories and tricategories. Thus, the result follows from the fact that not every Gray-category is equivalent to a strict 3-category, connecting 2-categorical and higher-categorical coherence theory. In particular, any nontrivially braided monoidal category gives an example of a pseudoalgebra that is not equivalent to a strict one.     

Base-free formulas in the lattice-theoretic study of compacta

The languages of finitary and infinitary logic over the alphabet of bounded lattices have proven to be of considerable use in the study of compacta. Significant among the sentences of these languages are the ones that are base free, those whose truth is unchanged when we move among the lattice bases of a compactum. In this paper we define syntactically the expansive sentences, and show each of them to be base free. We also show that many well-known properties of compacta may be expressed using expansive sentences; and that any property so expressible is closed under inverse limits and co-existential images. As a byproduct, we conclude that co-existential images of pseudo-arcs are pseudo-arcs. This is of interest because the corresponding statement for confluent maps is still open, and co-existential maps are often??but not always??confluent.     

Definability in substructure orderings, III: Finite distributive lattices

Let ${{\mathcal D}}$ be the ordered set of isomorphism types of finite distributive lattices, where the ordering is by embeddability. We study first-order definability in this ordered set. We prove among other things that for every finite distributive lattice D, the set {d, d ^opp} is definable, where d and d ^opp are the isomorphism types of D and its opposite (D turned upside down). We prove that the only non-identity automorphism of ${{\mathcal D}}$ is the opposite map. Then we apply these results to investigate definability in the closely related lattice of universal classes of distributive lattices. We prove that this lattice has only one non-identity automorphism, the opposite map; that the set of finitely generated and also the set of finitely axiomatizable universal classes are definable subsets of the lattice; and that for each element K of the two subsets, {K, K ^opp} is a definable subset of the lattice.     

The Essentially Equational Theory of Horn Classes

It is well known that the model categories of universal Horn theories are locally presentable, hence essentially algebraic (see [2]). In the special case of quasivarieties a direct translation of the implicational syntax into the essentially equational one is known (see [1]). Here we present a similar translation for the general case, showing at the same time that many relationally presented Horn classes are in fact (equivalent to) quasivarieties.