A coherence theorem for pseudonatural transformations (Q502628)

This paper contains coherence theorems expressed in terms of free \((n,p)\)-categories and the following terminology. An \((n,p)\)-category for this author is a strict \(n\)-category in which, for all \(k>p\), every \(k\)-cell is invertible. The notion of computad \(\Sigma\) appropriate to this structure is called an \((n,p)\)-polygraph (following terminology of Albert Burroni rather than the reviewer). The free \((n,p)\)-category on \(\Sigma\) is denoted by \(\Sigma^{*(p)}\). The \(2\)-dimensional notion of sesquicategory is generalized to dimension \(n\) and called an \(n\)-white-category. The word used for rewrite termination and confluence is convergence. The word used for existence of \((m+1)\)-cells between parallel pairs of \(m\)-cells is \(m\)-coherent. There is a \((4,2)\)-polygraph \(\mathbf{Assoc}\) encoding the structure of category with an up-to-isomorphism associative tensor product satisfying the Mac Lane pentagon. Mac Lane's coherence theorem for the structure becomes: \(\mathbf{Assoc}^{*(2)}\) is \(3\)-coherent. Coherence for bicategories becomes the result that, for any set \(\mathbf{C}\), the \(4\)-polygraph \(\mathbf{BiCat[C]}\) is \(3\)-convergent and the free \((4, 2)\)-category \(\mathbf{BiCat[C]}^{*(2)}\) is \(3\)-coherent. Coherence for pseudofunctors becomes the result that, for any function \(\mathbf{f} : \mathbf{C}\to \mathbf{D}\), the \(4\)-polygraph \(\mathbf{PFonct[f]}\) is \(3\)-convergent and the free \((4,2)\)-category \(\mathbf{PFonct[f]}^{*(2)}\) is \(3\)-coherent. Yet a coherence of this precise form for pseudonatural transformations is spoilt by the fact that \(\mathbf{PNTrans[f,g]}\) is not \(3\)-confluent. The problem is resolved by observing that the so-called \(2\)-Squier condition of depth \(2\) is satisfied.