An overview of colax and virtual double categories

DOI10.1007/S10485-025-09836-WMaRDI QIDQ6894299zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Marco Grandis

Publication date 25 November 2025

Published in Applied Categorical Structures (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/S10485-025-09836-W

zbMATH Keywords

cylinder functorlax double categorylax functormulticategoryvirtual double category

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Adjoint functors (universal constructions, reflective subcategories, Kan extensions, etc.) (18A40) Non-symmetric operads, multicategories, generalized multicategories (18M65) 2-categories, bicategories, double categories (18N10)

Review text

This paper gives an overview of colax and virtual double categories. The synopsis of the paper goes as follows.\N\N\begin{itemize}\N\item[\S 2] recalls the notions of strict and weak double category, constructing a colax double category \(\mathbb{M}\mathrm{Top}\) of monoids, homomorphisms and biacted topological spaces.\N\N\item[\S 3] gives an explicit description of colax double categories as oplax algebras for the free-category 2-monad. Colax double categories were introduced by \textit{G. S. H. Cruttwell} and \textit{M. A. Shulman} [Theory Appl. Categ. 24, 580--655 (2010; Zbl 1220.18003), Example 9.7], being an extension of colax monoidal categories [\textit{T. Leinster}, Higher operads, higher categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2004; Zbl 1160.18001), Definition 3.1.1] for the dual lax case.\N\N\item[\S 4] outlines the extension of the results on the formal theory of adjunctions represented by the strict double category \(\mathbb{D}\mathrm{bl}\) of (small) double categories with horizontal and vertical arrows given by the lax and colax functors respectively and suitable cells [\textit{M. Grandis} and \textit{R. Paré}, Cah. Topol. Géom. Différ. Catég. 45, No. 3, 193--240 (2004; Zbl 1063.18002); \textit{M. Grandis}, Higher dimensional categories. From double to multiple categories. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific (2020; Zbl 1431.18001)], Chapters 3 and 4] to colax double categories, defining the strict double category \(\mathrm{Clx}\mathbb{D}\mathrm{bl}\) of such structures and the new adjunctions. It is shown that colax double categories admit both lax and colax (double) functors.\N\N\item[\S 5] shows, by explicit constructions, that normal colax double categories (resp. double categories) amount to representable (resp. strongly representable) virtual double categories, as already claimed in [\textit{G. S. H. Cruttwell} and \textit{M. A. Shulman}, Theory Appl. Categ. 24, 580--655 (2010; Zbl 1220.18003)].\N\end{itemize}

Cites work

• A multiple category of multiple lax categories
• A unified framework for generalized multicategories
• Adjoints for multiple categories (on weak and lax multiple categories, III)
• An introduction to multiple categories (on weak and lax multiple categories. I.)
• Cartesian double theories: a double-categorical framework for categorical doctrines
• Catégories structurées
• Composition of modules for lax functors
• Directed algebraic topology. Models of non-reversible worlds
• From cubical to globular higher categories
• Generalized enrichment of categories
• Higher dimensional categories. From double to multiple categories
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2134022 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6667093 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5076886 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2028927 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2139647 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1389226 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7088232 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3214579 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3305134 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3316072 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3389217 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3191291 (Why is no real title available?)
• Intercategories
• Intercategories: a framework for three-dimensional category theory
• Introduction to bicategories
• Kan extensions in double categories. (On weak double categories. III)
• Lax Kan extensions for double categories (on weak double categories. IV)
• Representable multicategories
• Span and cospan representations of weak double categories
• The topology of critical processes. I: Processes and models
• The topology of critical processes. IV. (The homotopy structure)
• Yoneda theory for double categories

This page was built for publication: An overview of colax and virtual double categories

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6894299)