2-functor

In mathematics, specifically, in category theory, a 2-functor is a morphism between 2-categories.[1] They may be defined formally using enrichment by saying that a 2-category is exactly a Cat-enriched category and a 2-functor is a Cat-functor.[2]

Explicitly, if C and D are 2-categories then a 2-functor F : C D {\displaystyle F\colon C\to D} consists of

  • a function F : Ob C Ob D {\displaystyle F\colon {\text{Ob}}C\to {\text{Ob}}D} , and
  • for each pair of objects c , c Ob C {\displaystyle c,c'\in {\text{Ob}}C} , a functor F c , c : Hom C ( c , c ) Hom D ( F c , F c ) {\displaystyle F_{c,c'}\colon {\text{Hom}}_{C}(c,c')\to {\text{Hom}}_{D}(Fc,Fc')}

such that each F c , c {\displaystyle F_{c,c'}} strictly preserves identity objects and they commute with horizontal composition in C and D.

See [3] for more details and for lax versions.

References

  1. ^ Kelly, G.M.; Street, R. (1974). "Review of the elements of 2-categories". Category Seminar. 420: 75–103.
  2. ^ G. M. Kelly. Basic concepts of enriched category theory. Reprints in Theory and Applications of Categories, (10), 2005.
  3. ^ 2-functor at the nLab
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