Aspects of algebraic exponentiation (Q1932143)

The article studies the notion of (locally) algebraic Cartesian closedness, with a strong emphasis on the particularities of the general theory when instantiated to the category of groups. (Locally) Cartesian closed categories are well known, but many algebraic categories fail to be (locally) Cartesian closed. To allow for a categorical investigation of concepts that are typical to Cartesian closed categories, the notion of algebraic Cartesian closed categories (and thus of algebraic exponentiation) was introduced and is further investigated. The article is self-contained, and (paraphrased from the abstract) analyses aspects of algebraic exponentiation, shows how this notion sheds new light on the categorical-algebraic question of centralization, and explores the unusual universal properties related to algebraic exponentiation in the category of groups. To quote from the introduction: ``... revealing that, behind the notions of centre and centralizer, there was an unexpected wider ranging phenomenon of functional nature''. Further, the article relates the notion of algebraic exponentiation to strong protomodularity and peri-abelianness, notions of interest in the general theory of groups.