Free and based path groupoids (Q6112527)

This paper aims to give an explicit description of the path object in the bicategory of translation topological groupoids. The principal application is in the setting of orbifolds as groupoids, where the authors adopt the model developed by \textit{I. Moerdijk} and \textit{D. A. Pronk} [\(K\)-Theory 12, No. 1, 3--21 (1997; Zbl 0883.22005)] to desccribe orbifolds in terms of groupoids. The synopsis of the paper goes as follows. \begin{itemize} \item[\S 2] presents some basic definitions and constructions for topological groupoids, defining translation groupoids and introducing the bicategory of translation groupoids resulting from inverting the essential equivalences. \item[\S 3] introduces the model for orbifolds as groupoids giving the setting for the construction of the path groupoid in the next section. \item[\S 4] is devoted to the construction of the free path groupoid. It is shown that this constuction is functorial and invariant under Morita equivalence. \item[\S 5] provides a detailed description of the based path and loop groupoids, describing some examples. \item[\S 6] concerns the characterization of the homotopy between generalized maps. \item[\S 7] provides a definition of groupoid fibration. It is shown that the evaluation morphism is a groupoid fibration. \end{itemize}