Intercategories: a framework for three-dimensional category theory (Q502617)

The paper is a detailed presentation of the notion of intercategories that the authors introduced in their paper [Theory Appl. Categ. 30, 1215--1255 (2015; Zbl 1387.18012)]. They argue that intercategories provide a good conceptual framework for three-dimensional category theory. As far as the ideas are concerned, this concept is certainly a hub that connects many existing approaches. However, since conceptually the domain is still very active one may think that it is not yet the last word. In connection with their concept authors consider Gray categories (see [\textit{J. W. Gray}, Formal category theory: Adjointness for 2-categories. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 391. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1974; Zbl 0285.18006)]), cubical bicategories [\textit{R. Garner} and \textit{N. Gurski}, Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 146, No. 3, 551--589 (2009; Zbl 1169.18001)], Verity's double bicategories [\textit{D. Verity}, Repr. Theory Appl. Categ. 2011, No. 20, 266 p. (2011; Zbl 1254.18001)], monoidal double categories [\textit{M. Shulman}, ``Constructing symmetric monoidal bicategories'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1004.0993}], duoidal categories [\textit{M. Aguiar} and \textit{S. Mahajan}, Monoidal functors, species and Hopf algebras. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2010; Zbl 1209.18002)] etc. To characterize intercategories briefly, in authors' own words: ``At the most basic level an intercategory is a laxified triple category, having three kinds of arrows, three kinds of cells relating these in pairs, and cubes relating these. We haven't striven for the most general laxity possible, but rather a specific choice, informed by the examples.'' The ways to see the connections of intercategories with double categories are multiple, and authors explore some, e.g., intercategories as ``natural extension of double categories to the next dimension'' or as ``double categories whose horizontal and vertical compositions are weak, with an added transversal direction which is strict and used to express the coherence conditions''. The note that ``one of the motivating examples \(\ldots\) was a 2-monoidal or duoidal categories''. The paper is structured as follows. After considering preliminary notions (Section 1) they pass to the duoidal categories is Section 2. More abstract considerations are going in parallel with more concrete ones, for example matrices in a monoidal category (Subsection 2.2): ``Let \textbf{V} be a monoidal category with coproducts preserved by \(\otimes\) in each variable, and with pullbacks. We construct and intercategory SM(\textbf{V} whose objects are sets, whose transversal arrows are functions, whose horizontal arrows are spans, and whose vertical arrows are matrices of \textbf{V} objects.'' This certainly will be appreciated by many readers. In Subsection 2.3 an embedding of the duoidal category of \textbf{V} into matrices is considered. Section 3 is devoted to cubical bicategories and monoidal double categories. Here again the abstract and more concrete considerations are interlinked. In Section 4 Verity double bicategories are considered. Subsections are: 4.1. Double bicategories; 4.2. Double categories as intercategories; 4.3. Quintets in a double category; 4.4. Morphisms in double categories. In Section 5 true Gray categories are considered. Subsections: 5.1. Gray's original tensor; 5.2. Gray categories as intercategories -- lax case; 5.3. Gray categories as intercategories -- colax case; 5.4. Gray categories as intercategories -- symmetric case. In Subsection 5.4 a characterization theorem (theorem 5.4.5) is proved. It shows three equivalent ways to represent a true Gray category as an intercategory (under certain conditions). In Section 6 is devoted to intercategories of spans in double categories (in fact it treats spans, cospans, matrix structures, etc.). It may be said that the ``center of gravity'' of the paper is located somewhere in these two sections. The final section, Section 7, concerns an important example: the intercategory Set. This section may be of interest to the readers who are chiefly interested in monads (vertical, horizontal, double monads). In particular, the notion of intermonad is introduced.