Left-exact localizations of \(\infty\)-topoi. I: Higher sheaves (Q2125994)

Every Grothendieck topos arises as a left-exact localisation of a category of presheaves of sets on a small category. Any such localisation uniquely corresponds to a Grothendieck topology on that small category. Lurie's work on higher topos theory has shown that every \(\infty\)-topos is a left-exact localisation of a category of presheaves of spaces, and each such localisation is a composition of a topological localisation followed by a `cotopological' localisation. A theory of sheaves and Grothendieck topologies applies to the topological localisations but not the cotopological ones. In this paper, the authors define sheaves for a set of morphisms in an \(\infty\)-topos. They show that the left-exact localisation generated by a set of morphisms is precisely the category of sheaves for that set. They obtain their definition of sheaves by studying classes of maps inverted by co-continuous left-exact functors called \textit{congruences}, which are a substitute for the Grothendieck topologies in ordinary topos theory. The paper also explicitly describes the congruence generated by an arbitrary class of maps. The paper is written in a `model independent style': the authors do not choose an explicit model for \((\infty,1)\)-categories, but say they instead give arguments that they feel are robust enough to hold in any model.