Weak \(n\)-ary relational products in allegories (Q2345058)

Allegories are enriched categories generalizing a category of sets and binary relations, and relational products in an allegory can be viewed as a generalization of Cartesian products. There is a well-established definition of a binary relational product for allegories which, in the case of the allegory of sets and binary relations, this definition characterizes the usual Cartesian products. In the paper under review, the authors define and investigate the weakening of an \(n\)-ary relational product in allegories proposed in [\textit{J. Desharnais}, Inf. Sci. 119, No. 3--4, 275--288 (1999; Zbl 0942.03041)]. For \(n=2\) this is equivalent to the binary relational product defined in [\textit{M. Winter}, J. Log. Algebr. Program. 76, No. 1, 145--159 (2008; Zbl 1139.18003)]. It is proved that a weak \(n\)-ary relational product yields an \(n\)-ary categorical product in the subcategory of maps. In addition, some results from M. Winter [loc. cit.] are generalized to weak \(n\)-ary relational products.