Constellations with range and IS-categories

Definitions and generalizations in theory of categories (18A05) Factorization systems, substructures, quotient structures, congruences, amalgams (18A32) Special categories (18B99) Generalizations of semigroups (20M75)

Abstract: Constellations are asymmetric generalisations of categories. Although they are not required to possess a notion of range, many natural examples do. These include commonly occurring constellations related to concrete categories (since they model surjective morphisms), and also others arising from quite different sources, including from well-studied classes of semigroups. We show how constellations with a well-behaved range operation are nothing but ordered categories with restrictions. We characterise abstractly those categories that are canonical extensions of constellations with range, as so-called IS-categories. Such categories contain distinguished subcategories of insertions (which are monomorphisms) and surjections (in general different to the epimorphisms) such that each morphism admits a unique factorisation into a surjection followed by an insertion. Most familiar concrete categories are IS-categories, and we show how some of the well-known properties of these categories arise from the fact that they are IS-categories. For appropriate choices of morphisms in each, the category of IS-categories is shown to be equivalent to the category of constellations with range.

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A \textit{constellation} is a class \(\mathcal Q\) equipped with a partial binary operation \(\cdot\) satisfying: \begin{itemize} \item[1)] if \(x\cdot(y\cdot z)\) exists then \((x\cdot y)\cdot z\) exists, and then the two are equal; \item[2)] if \(x\cdot y\) and \(y\cdot z\) exist, then so does \(x\cdot(y\cdot z)\); \item[3)] for each \(x\), there is a unique right identity \(e\) (denoted by \(D(x)\)) such that \(e\cdot x=x\). \end{itemize} Therefore, constellations are asymmetric generalizations of categories. A constellation \(\mathcal Q\) in which for all \(s\in \mathcal Q\) the set \(R(s) =\{e\in D(\mathcal Q) \vert s\cdot e \) exists, and for all \(f\in D(\mathcal Q), s\cdot f\) exists implies \(e\cdot f\) exists\} has a single element, is called a \textit{constellation with pre-range}, and is called \textit{constellation with range} if it additionally satisfies the \textit{right congruence condition} \(R(R(s)\cdot t)=R(s\cdot t)\) whenever \(s\cdot t\) exists. If \((\mathcal Q,\cdot,D,R)\) is a constellation with pre-range, then \((\mathcal Q,\circ,D,R)\) is a (\textit{derived}) category under partial operation \(s\circ t=s\cdot t\) if \(R(s)=D(t)\), and undefined otherwise if and only if \((\mathcal Q,\cdot,D,R)\) is a constellation with range. \textit{Left cancellative} constellations and \textit{ordered categories with restrictions} are defined and proved that if \((\mathcal Q,\cdot,D,R)\) is a (left cancellative) constellation with range, then the derived category \((\mathcal Q,\circ,D,R)\) is an ordered (left cancellative) category with restrictions, and \textit{vice versa}, if \((\mathcal Q,\circ,D,R, \leq)\) is a (left cancellative) ordered category with restrictions, then setting \(s\cdot t\) equal to \(s\cdot (R(s)\vert t)\) whenever \(R(s)\leq D(t)\) makes \((\mathcal Q,\cdot,D,R)\) into a (left cancellative) constellation with range. The authors define also a \textit{category with insertions} (I-category) and a \textit{category with insertions and surjections} (IS-category) and describe some well-known concepts for IS-categories: epimorphisms, subobjects, equalizers, the balanced property and factorization systems. It turns out that the category of constallations with range is isomorphic to the category of ordered categories with restrictions and, with an appropriate choice the morphisms, is equivalent to the category of IS-categories.

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