An embedding theorem for tangent categories (Q1682009)

A tangent structure on a category \(\mathcal C\) is a functor \(T\colon \mathcal C \to \mathcal C\) together with certain natural transformations (and a somewhat long list of conditions on them) which capture the essential properties of the ``tangent bundle'' functor \(T\colon M \mapsto TM\) on the category of smooth manifolds and the Zariski tangent space functor in the category of schemes. Beyond geometry, this notion is of interest also in computer science. In the case of schemes, the tangent space functor is representable by the scheme \(D = \operatorname{Spec} \mathbb Z[x]/x^2\). Although the tangent functor on smooth manifolds is not representable, a similar construction can be performed in the more general context of synthetic differential geometry. This paper is concerned with the problem of representability of tangent structures. More specifically, it is shown that any category with tangent structure can be embedded in a category whose tangent structure is representable. The proof uses Leung's coherence theorem for tangent categories and enriched category theory. At the end of the paper, an explicit presentation of the representable tangent structure into which a given tangent structure embeds is provided.