Isomorphisms in pro-categories (Q1878448)

The problem, whether a morphism which is both an epimorphism and a monomorphism is an isomorphism, is an important problem in category theory. Given a category \({\mathcal C}\), the category pro-\({\mathcal C}\) consists of inverse systems of objects of \({\mathcal C}\), indexed by directed sets: \(X=(X_\alpha,p(X)_\alpha^\beta:X_\beta\to X_\alpha; \alpha<\beta \in I(X))\). In the paper under review, the authors study isomorphisms in the pro-category \(\text{pro-}{\mathcal C}\) under the assumption that \({\mathcal C}\) contains direct sums and weak push-outs. The authors introduce the notion of strong mono- and epimorphisms in \(\text{pro-}{\mathcal C}\). Let \(f:X\to Y\) be a map in \(\text{pro-}{\mathcal C}\). It is said to be a strong monomorphism (resp., strong epimorphism), if for any pair of objects \(P,Q\) from \({\mathcal C}\) and morphisms \(a:X\to P\), \(b:Y\to Q\) and \(g:P\to Q\) satisfying \(b\circ f=g\circ a\), there exists a morphism \(u:Y\to P,\) so that \(u\circ f=a\) (resp., \(g\circ u=b\)). If \(X\) and \(Y\) are objects of \({\mathcal C}\) then \(f\) is a strong monomorphism (resp., epimorphism) if and only if it has a left inverse (resp., right inverse) but this is generally not true for objects in pro-\({\mathcal C}\). Strong monomorphisms (resp., epimorphisms) are monomorphisms (resp., epimorphisms) and they are preserved by functors. Then the authors show that a morphism in pro-\({\mathcal C}\) is an isomorphism if and only if it is both a strong monomorphism and an epimorphism, and, provided that \({\mathcal C}\) has direct sums, a morphism in pro-\({\mathcal C}\) is an isomorphism if and only if it is both a strong epimorphism and a monomorphism. The authors apply the above result to the characterization of uniform movabilility. An object \(X=(X_\alpha,\alpha\in I(X))\) is uniformly removable if for each \(\alpha\), there exists \(\beta>\alpha\) and \(r:X_\beta\to X\), such that \(r_\alpha=p(X)^\beta_\alpha\). It is shown that if there exist an object \(P\) from \({\mathcal C}\) and a strong epimorphism \(P\to X\) then \(X\) is uniformly movable. For a converse statement the authors show that, for a uniformly movable object \(X\), if \({\mathcal C}\) is a category with inverse limits then the projection \(p:\lim_\alpha X_\alpha\to X\) is a strong epimorphism and if \({\mathcal C}\) has direct sums then there exists an object \(P\in {\mathcal C}\) and a strong epimorphism \(P\to X\). Other applications are also given, for instance to the study of isomorphisms in the pro-categories of the homotopy category of pointed connected of topological spaces.