On the subdivision of small categories

Abstract: We present an intrinsic and concrete development of the subdivision of small categories, give some simple examples and derive its fundamental properties. As an application, we deduce an alternative way to compare the homotopy categories of spaces and small categories, by using partially ordered sets. This yields a new conceptual proof to the well-known fact that these two homotopy categories are equivalent.

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The author provides an intrinsic definition for the subdivision, \(Sd({\mathcal C})\), of a small category \({\mathcal C}\) which is equivalent to the subdivision defined by \textit{D. W. Anderson} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 84, 765--788 (1978; Zbl 0408.55002)]. He derives several basic properties of this subdivision, including the fact that for every small category \({\mathcal C}\), \(Sd^2({\mathcal C})\) is a poset, and the fact that there is a natural transformation \(\epsilon: Sd\rightarrow \text{id}_{{\mathcal C}at}\) of functors of \({\mathcal C}at\) (the category of small categories) that induces a homotopy equivalence between the classifying space of a small category and that of its subdivision. He uses these to provide a new proof that the homotopy category of \({\mathcal C}at\) and that of the category of topological spaces are equivalent.

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