On pseudofunctors sending groups to 2-groups (Q2682905)

In a category \(\mathsf{B}\) with finite products (i.e., a Cartesian category), every product-preserving functor \(F \colon \mathsf{B} \longrightarrow \mathsf{Set}\) preserves monoids, groups, as well as abelian groups. That is \(F\) lifts to, e.g., a functor \(\mathsf{Ab}(\mathsf{B}) \xrightarrow{\mathsf{Ab}(F)} \mathsf{Ab}\). In the case that \(\mathsf{Ab}(F)\) is an isomorphism, \(F\) thusly factors through the category of abelian groups. The aim of this paper is to extend the above result to the 2-categorical setting by considering lax monoidal pseudofunctors from \(\mathsf{B}\) -- as a 2-category with only identity 2-cells -- to \(\mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\), both seen as Cartesian monoidal 2-categories. Throughout, the paper makes use of the fact that one can canonically associate an opfibration to every pseudofunctor; that is, there exists an equivalence of 2-categories \(\mathsf{op}\mathbb{F}\mathsf{ib}(\mathsf{B}) \simeq [\mathsf{B}, \mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}]\). Further, it is shown in [\textit{J. Moeller} and \textit{C. Vasilakopoulou}, Theory Appl. Categ. 35, 1159--1207 (2020; Zbl 1442.18016)] that this opfibration is \emph{monoidal} -- a pseudomonoid in \(\mathsf{op}\mathbb{F}\mathsf{ib}(\mathsf{B})\) -- if and only if \(F\) is endowed with a lax monoidal structure. Section 3 defines a canonical oplax monoidal structure \[ (L \colon F \circ \times \Longrightarrow \times \circ (F \times F), L^1 \colon F \circ I_{\mathsf{B}} \Longrightarrow \mathsf{I}) \] on any pseudofunctor \(F \colon \mathsf{B} \longrightarrow \mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\), where \(I_{\mathsf{B}}\) and \(\mathsf{I}\) are the monoidal units (= terminal objects) of \(\mathsf{B}\) and \(\mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\), respectively. Section 4 characterises pseudofunctors \(\mathsf{B} \longrightarrow \mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\) whose associated opfibration \(P \colon \mathsf{X} \longrightarrow \mathsf{B}\) is \emph{Cartesian monoidal} (i.e., \(\mathsf{X}\) has finite products and \(P\) is monoidal with respect to the Cartesian monoidal structures on \(\mathsf{X}\) and \(\mathsf{B}\)) in terms of the associated oplax monoidal structure. That is, it is shown that \(P\) being a Cartesian monoidal opfibration is equivalent to \((L, L^1)\) having appropriate right adjoints \(R\) and \(R^1\), respectively. While monoids in \(\mathsf{B}\) are sent to pseudomonoids (monoidal categories) in \(\mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\), group objects in the former category are, in general, not sent to 2-groups in the latter. As such, Section 5 characterises lax symmetric monoidal pseudofunctors \(F\colon \mathsf{B} \longrightarrow \mathbb{C}\mathsf{at}\) that do have this property, called \emph{groupal} pseudofunctors: \begin{itemize} \item[1.] In terms of \(L\) and \(L^1\) having right adjoints \(R\) and \(R^1\), respectively, such that the unit of \(L^1 \dashv R^1\), as well as each unit of \(L^{A,A} \dashv R^{A,A}\), for all \(A \in \mathsf{Gr}(\mathsf{B})\), are isomorphisms. \item[2.] Equivalently, in terms of the associated Cartesian monoidal opfibration \(P\), if for every \(X \in \mathsf{Gr}(\mathsf{B})\), the terminal arrow \(X \longrightarrow I_{\mathsf{X}}\), and the diagonal \(X \longrightarrow X \times X\) are \(P\)-cocartesian morphisms. \end{itemize} All in all, one obtains that groupal pseudofunctors lift to pseudofunctors \(\mathsf{Ab}(G) \longrightarrow \mathbb{S}\mathsf{ym}2\mathbb{G}\mathsf{p}\). If, in addition, the category \(\mathsf{B}\) is additive -- so every object has the unique structure of an abelian group -- then one recovers an analogue of the classical case: if the terminal and diagonal maps for all \(X \in \mathsf{X}\) are \(P\)-cocartesian, then \(F\) factors through \(\mathbb{S}\mathsf{ym}2\mathbb{G}\mathsf{p}\). This is the case precisely when all fibres of \(P\) are groupoids. In Section 6, examples of this construction are discussed. In particular Section 6.2 studies the forgetful functor \(V\) from the category of left monoid actions \(\mathsf{LMSet}\) into the category of monoids. This is a Cartesian monoidal opfibration, but its associated lax symmetric monoidal pseudofunctor is not groupal. However, a subcategory of \(\mathsf{LMSet}\) is constructed, such that the restriction of \(V\) to this subcategory gives rise to a pseudofunctor that factors through \(\mathbb{S}\mathsf{ym}2\mathbb{G}\mathsf{p}\).