Cofibrant objects among higher-dimensional categories (Q2472759)

Polygraphs [\textit{A. Burroni}, Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 530, 94--105 (1991; Zbl 0788.18004), Theor. Comput. Sci. 115, No. 1, 43--62 (1993; Zbl 0791.08004)] or computads [\textit{J. M. Barja Perez}, ``Morita theorems for triples in closed categories'', Alxebra. 20 (1977; Zbl 0376.18004); \textit{R. Street}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 8, 149--181 (1976; Zbl 0335.18005)] are structured systems of generators for \(\infty\)-categories, extending the familiar notion of presentation of generators and relations beyond monoids or groups. The principal purpose in this paper is to prove that all cofibrant \(\infty\)-categories are freely generated by polygraphs, thus establishing a simple, abstract characterization of the free objects, otherwise defined by a rather complex inductive construction. The key point is that the full subcategory of \(\mathbf{Cat}_{\infty}\) whose objects are freely generated by polygraphs is Cauchy-complete, which means that its idempotent endomorphisms split.