All Questions
Tagged with gn.general-topology ct.category-theory
183
questions
79
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Can the Lawvere fixed point theorem be used to prove the Brouwer fixed point theorem?
The Lawvere fixed point theorem asserts that if $X, Y$ are objects in a category with finite products such that the exponential $Y^X$ exists, and if $f : X \to Y^X$ is a morphism which is surjective ...
- 114k
71
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Dualizing the notion of topological space
$\require{AMScd}$
Defining a topological space on a set $X$ is equivalent to designating certain subobjects of $X$ in ${\bf Set}$ (monomorphisms into $X$ up to equivalence) as open. The requirements ...
- 4,647
70
votes
28
answers
7k
views
Examples where it's useful to know that a mathematical object belongs to some family of objects
For an expository piece I'm writing, it would be useful to have good examples of the following phenomenon:
(1) ${\cal X}$ is a parameterized family of somethings. (Varieties, schemes, manifolds, ...
55
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Duality between compactness and Hausdorffness
Consider a non-empty set $X$ and its complete lattice of topologies
(see also this thread).
The discrete topology is Hausdorff. Every topology that is finer than a Hausdorff topology is also ...
- 1,691
42
votes
8
answers
5k
views
What is a metric space?
According to categorical lore, objects in a category are just a way of separating morphisms. The objects themselves are considered slightly disparagingly. In particular, if I can't distinguish ...
- 26.2k
40
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Ultrafilters as a double dual
Given a set $X$, let $\beta X$ denote the set of ultrafilters. The following theorems are known:
$X$ canonically embeds into $\beta X$ (by taking principal ultrafilters);
If $X$ is finite, then there ...
- 12.1k
38
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Why are profinite topologies important?
I hope this is not too vague of a question. Stone duality implies that the category Pro(FinSet) is equivalent to the category of Stone spaces (compact, Hausdorff, totally disconnected, topological ...
- 64.1k
37
votes
13
answers
4k
views
Continuous relations?
What might it mean for a relation $R\subset X\times Y$ to be continuous, where $X$ and $Y$ are topological spaces? In topology, category theory or in analysis? Is it possible, canonical, useful?
I ...
- 852
37
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Locales and Topology.
As someone more used to point-set topology, who is unfamiliar with the inner workings of lattice theory, I am looking to learn about the localic interpretation of topology, of which I only have a ...
37
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is the meaning of this analogy between lattices and topological spaces?
Let me add one more edit to help explain why this is a serious question. Theorem 5 below is a sort of lattice version of Urysohn's lemma, and it has essentially the same proof. Theorem 6, the famous ...
- 41.5k
36
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Is there a general theory of "compactification"?
In various branches of mathematics one finds diverse notions of compactification, used for diverse purposes. Certainly one does not expect all instances of "compactification" to be specializations of ...
- 59k
36
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What is the structure preserved by strong equivalence of metrics?
Let $X$ be a set. Then we can define at least three equivalence relations on the set of metrics on $X$. We say that two metrics $d_1$ and $d_2$ are topologically equivalent if the identity maps $i:(...
- 4,489
35
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Why should have Peter May worked with CGWH instead of CGH in "The Geometry of Iterated Loop Space"?
This is a follow-up to Dan Ramras' answer of this question.
The following correction can be found in the errata to The Geometry of Iterated Loop space (Page 484 here).
The weak Hausdorff rather ...
- 2,954
34
votes
4
answers
4k
views
An intelligent ant living on a torus or sphere – Does it have a universal way to find out?
I wanted to ask a question about topological invariants and whether they are connected in a fundamental or universal way. I am not an expert in topology, so please let me ask this question by way of a ...
- 6,757
27
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Possible categorical reformulation for the usual definition of compactness
Let $X$ be a compact topological space, $f_i:Y_i\to X$ a family of continuous maps such that the topology on $X$ is final for it (i.e., $U\subset X$ is open iff $f_i^{-1}(U)$ is open for each $i$, for ...
- 373
24
votes
0
answers
899
views
The topologies for which a presheaf is a sheaf?
Given a set $S$, let $Top(S)$ denote the partially ordered set (poset) of topologies on $S$, ordered by fineness, so the discrete topology, $Disc(S)$, is maximal.
Suppose that $Q$ is a presheaf on $...
- 8,327
23
votes
5
answers
2k
views
The "right" topological spaces
The following quote is found in the (~1969) book of Saunders MacLane,
"Categories for the working mathematician"
"All told, this suggests that in Top we have been studying
the wrong mathematical ...
- 18.4k
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Colimits in the category of smooth manifolds
In the category of smooth real manifolds, do all small colimits exist? In other words, is this category small-cocomplete? I can see that computing push-outs in the category of topological spaces of ...
- 1,152
21
votes
1
answer
813
views
Is there a category of topological spaces such that open surjections admit local sections?
The class of open surjections $Q \to X$ is a Grothendieck pretopology on the category $Top$ of spaces, and includes the class of maps $\amalg U_\alpha \to X$ where $\{U_\alpha\}$ is an open cover of $...
- 33.2k
20
votes
2
answers
1k
views
The Gelfand duality for pro-$C^*$-algebras
The Gelfand duality says that
$$X\to C(X)$$
is a contravariant equivalence between the category of compact Hausdorff spaces and continuous maps and the category of commutative unital $C^*$-algebras ...
- 1,324
17
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is there a natural measurable structure on the $\sigma$-algebra of a measurable space?
Let $(X, \Sigma)$ denote a measurable space. Is there a non-trivial $\sigma$-algebra $\Sigma^1$ of subsets of $\Sigma$ so that $(\Sigma, \Sigma^1)$ is also a measurable space?
Here is one natural ...
- 8,322
17
votes
1
answer
461
views
Combination topological space and locale?
The traditional theory of topological spaces (as formalized by Bourbaki) starts with a set of points, then builds a structure on that. In contrast, the theory of locales starts with a frame of opens (...
- 2,584
17
votes
2
answers
549
views
In the internal language of the topos of sheaves on a topological space, can we define locally constant real-valued functions?
For the purposes of this question, in a Grothendieck topos, we will call “definable” the objects and relations obtained from the terminal object, the natural numbers object and the subobject ...
- 28.7k
17
votes
0
answers
936
views
"Next steps" after TQFT?
(Disclaimer: I'm rather nervous that this isn't appropriate for MathOverflow, but given the contents of my question I don't really know a better place to ask something like this.)
Recently, I've been ...
- 357
16
votes
10
answers
3k
views
References for homotopy colimit
(1) What are some good references for homotopy colimits?
(2) Where can I find a reference for the following concrete construction of a homotopy colimit? Start with a partial ordering, which I will ...
- 12.2k
16
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Why are inverse images more important than images in mathematics?
Why are inverse images of functions more central to mathematics than the image?
I have a sequence of related questions:
Why the fixation on continuous maps as opposed to open maps? (Is there an ...
16
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Physical interpretations/meanings of the notion of a sheaf?
I fairly understand the fiber bundles, both the mathematical concept of fiber bundles and the physics use of fiber bundles. Because the fiber bundles are tightly connected to the gauge field theory in ...
- 10.3k
16
votes
5
answers
2k
views
What abstract nonsense is necessary to say the word "submersion"?
This question is closely related to these two, but the former doesn't go far enough and the latter didn't attract much attention, and anyway I want to ask the question slightly differently.
Recall ...
- 52.2k
16
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Pullbacks as manifolds versus ones as topological spaces
My question is: Does the forgetful functor F:(Mfd) $\to$ (Top) preserve pullbacks?
Detailed explanation is following.
A pullback is defined as a manifold/topological space satisfying a universal ...
- 801
16
votes
1
answer
552
views
Do strict pro-sets embed in locales?
It is well-known that the category of profinite groups (by which I mean Pro(FiniteGroups), i.e. the category of formal cofiltered limits of finite groups) is equivalent to a full subcategory of ...
- 64.1k
15
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Giving $\mathit{Top}(X,Y)$ an appropriate topology
$\DeclareMathOperator\Top{\mathit{Top}}$I am not sure if its OK to ask this question here.
Let $\Top$ be the category of topological spaces. Let $X,Y$ be objects in $\Top$.
Let $F:\mathbb{I}\...
- 1,025
15
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Why it is convenient to be cartesian closed for a category of spaces?
In 1967 Steenrod wrote what later became a quite celebrated paper, A convenient category of topological spaces (Michigan Math. J. 14 (1967) 133–152). The paper conveys the work of many (among the most ...
- 8,027
15
votes
1
answer
815
views
Homotopy pullback of a homotopy pushout is a homotopy pushout
Let's assume that we have a cube of spaces such that everything commutes up to homotopy.
The following holds:
- The right square is a homotopy pushout and
- all the squares in the middle are ...
- 181
15
votes
5
answers
670
views
How can one characterise compactness-by-experiment?
There are a myriad different variations on the theme of "compactness", and some of them have even made it on to Wikipedia. I'm interested in finding out more about types of compactness that fit the ...
- 26.2k
15
votes
1
answer
455
views
What are the algebras for the ultrafilter monad on topological spaces?
Motivation: Let $(X,\tau)$ be a topological space. Then the set $\beta X$ of ultrafilters on $X$ admits a natural topology (cf. Example 5.14 in Adámek and Sousa - D-ultrafilters and their monads), ...
- 59k
14
votes
3
answers
688
views
Is there a monad on Set whose algebras are Tychonoff spaces?
Compact Hausdorff spaces are algebras of the ultrafilter monad on Set.
Is the category of Tychonoff spaces also monadic over Set?
- 3,123
14
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is there a universal property characterizing the category of compact Hausdorff spaces?
This is in some sense a follow up to the question asked here Properties of the category of compact Hausdorff spaces
To clarify: The category $\text{Prof}$ of profinite sets sits inside the category $\...
- 1,823
14
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Localic locales? Towards very pointless spaces by iterated internalization.
One can think of locales as (generalizations of) topological spaces which don't necessary have (enough) points. Of course when one studies locales, one "actually" studies frames,
certain sorts of ...
- 17.2k
14
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What is a monoidal metric space?
At time of writing, the highest rated answer to my question What is a metric space? is Tom Leinster's account of Lawvere's description of a metric space as an enriched category. This prompted my ...
- 26.2k
14
votes
2
answers
487
views
Which spaces have enough curves
Let $\mathbf{Top}$ be the category of topological spaces, and let $I\in\mathbf{Top}$ be the unit interval $I=[0,1]\subset\mathbb{R}$. For any space $X$, let $|X|$ denote the underlying set of points; ...
- 8,327
14
votes
1
answer
531
views
"Scott completion" of dcpo
If $A$ is poset with all directed suprema, it is common to consider the Scott topology on $A$, whose open subsets are the $U \subset A$ such that $U$ is upward closed and if $\bigcup_I a_i \in U $ for ...
- 39.4k
14
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Which sequential colimits commute with pullbacks in the category of topological spaces?
This question was asked on math.stackexchange.com without a reaction.
Given diagrams of topological spaces
$$X_0\rightarrow X_1\rightarrow\ldots$$
$$Y_0\rightarrow Y_1\rightarrow\ldots$$
$$Z_0\...
- 141
13
votes
2
answers
732
views
Is there a large colimit-sketch for topological spaces?
Question. Is there a large colimit-sketch $\mathcal{S}$ such that $\mathrm{Mod}(\mathcal{S}) \simeq \mathbf{Top}$?
In other words, is there a category $\mathcal{E}$ with a class of cocones $\mathcal{S}...
13
votes
1
answer
737
views
Is Top_4 (normal spaces) a reflective subcategory of Top_3 (regular spaces)?
I’m studying some category theory by reading Mac Lane linearly and solving exercises.
In question 5.9.4 of the second edition, the reader is asked to construct left adjoints for each of the inclusion ...
- 1,371
13
votes
2
answers
508
views
Constructive proofs of existence in analysis using locales
There are several basic theorems in analysis asserting the existence of a point in some space such as the following results:
The intermediate value theorem: for every continuous function $f : [0,1] \...
- 4,340
12
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Categorical Construction of Quotient Topology?
The product topology is the categorical product, and the disjoint union topology is the categorical coproduct. But the arrows in the characteristic diagrams for the subspace and quotient topologies ...
- 1,279
12
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Reference request: Book of topology from "Topos" point of view
Question: Is there any book of topology in the modern language of topos theory?
Motivation:
In "Sheaves in Geometry and Logic" Mac Lane and Moerdijk say: "For Grothendieck, topology became the ...
- 535
11
votes
9
answers
1k
views
Proving the impossibility of an embedding of categories
A number of topological invariants take the form of functors $\mathscr{T}\to\mathscr{G}$, where $\mathscr{T}$ is the category of all topological spaces and continuous functions, and $\mathscr{G}$ is ...
- 5,569
11
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Confusion over a point in basic category theory
"Let Top be the category of topological spaces." If I see a definition like this, in which homeomorphic (isomorphic in the category) spaces are not identified together, then for each given topological ...
- 1,197
11
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What was Burroni's sketch for topological spaces?
In a 1981 talk, René Guitart cites Albert Burroni as having given "A first interesting example of a mixed sketch...for the category of topological spaces" in 1970. This was apparently done in Burroni'...
- 2,859