Lax comma categories: Cartesian closedness, extensivity, topologicity, and descent (Q6552273)

The ubiquitous notion of \textit{comma category} has a natural 2-dimensional lax notion, called \textit{lax comma 2-category}. This paper is highly motivated by the fundamental role it plays in the authors' approach to 2-dimensional counterparts of Janelidze's \textit{categorical Galois theory} [\textit{G. Janelidze}, J. Algebra 132, No. 2, 270--286 (1990; Zbl 0702.18006); Math. Appl., Dordr. 565, 139--171 (2004; Zbl 1072.18003)], particulaly regarding its interplay with \textit{lax orthogonal factorization systems} [\textit{M. M. Clementino} and \textit{I. López Franco}, Adv. Math. 302, 458--528 (2016; Zbl 1375.18032)].\N\NThis paper builds on the authors' prior examination of lax comma ordered sets [\textit{M. M. Clementino} and \textit{F. L. Nunes}, Quaest. Math. 46, Part Suppl. 1, 145--159 (2023; Zbl 07766161)], extending the scope to encompass lax comma categories \(\mathsf{Cat}/\!/X\), where \(\mathsf{Cat}\)\ denotes the category of small categories and \(X\)\ represents a (possibly large) category. The authors' primary objective is to lay down the groundwork for their ongoing work in Galois theory and descent theory initiated in [\textit{M. M. Clementino} and \textit{F. Lucatelli Nunes}, Theory Appl. Categ. 40, 180--226 (2024; Zbl 1537.18028)]. In pursuit of this aim, they concentrate on four fundamental aspects, namely, cartesian closedness, extensivity, topologicity, and descent.\N\NThe synopsis of the paper goes as follows.\N\N\begin{itemize}\N\item[\S 2] gives conditions under which the category \ is cartesian closed, extensive and (co)complete, showing that the properties of the base category \(X\)\ plays a crucial role in determination of the properties of \(\mathsf{Cat} /\!/X\). In this direction, it is also established that, if \(X\)\ is small, the forgetful functor\N\[\N\mathsf{Cat}/\!/X\rightarrow\mathsf{Cat}\N\]\Nis topological iff \(X\)\ is complete.\N\N\item[\S 3] investigates effective desccent morphisms in \(\mathsf{Cat}/\!/X\). In this direction, it is shown that the forgetful functor\N\[\N\mathsf{Cat}/\!/X\rightarrow\mathsf{Cat}\N\]\Npreserves effective desccent morphisms. Nevertheless, the full characterization of effective desccent morphisms in \(\mathsf{Cat}/\!/X\) remains open.\N\N\item[\S 4] gives some further comments and points to future work.\N\end{itemize}