No label defined (Q4933938)

A double category has objects, horizontal morphisms, vertical morphisms, and cells with horizontal and vertical domains and codomains constituting their boundary, subjected to several category structures and interchange laws. Double functors, double cones, horizontal or vertical natural transformations are described as well as double graphs and double diagrams, double comma categories, etc. Some relaxed notions are also described with pseudo double categories. Several examples of such double or pseudo double categories are given, the prototype of double (resp. pseudo double) category being \({\mathcal A}d{\mathcal C}at\) (resp. \({\mathcal C}at)\) whose objects are small categories, horizontal morphisms are functors, vertical morphisms are left part of adjunctions (resp. are profunctors), and cells are natural transformations. Categories and 2-categories are special cases of double categories. The aim of the work is to describe double limits of double functors and double diagrams. A crucial new double limit is introduced and called tabulator. In the double category \({\mathcal A}d{\mathcal C}at\), it is a comma category and in the pseudo double category \({\mathcal C}at\) it is the Grothendieck construction of the category of elements of a profunctor. The main theorem asserts that all double limits can be constructed from double products, double equalizers and tabulators. They are computed in several examples of double categories. Usual limits and weighted limits are special cases.