In
category theory, a branch of
mathematics, a
groupoid object is both a generalization of a
groupoid which is built on richer structures than sets, and a generalization of a
when the multiplication is only
partial function.
Definition
A
groupoid object in a category
C admitting finite fiber products consists of a pair of objects
together with five
satisfying the following groupoid axioms
-
where the are the two projections,
-
(associativity)
-
(unit)
-
(inverse) , , .
Examples
Group objects
A
group object is a special case of a groupoid object, where
and
. One recovers therefore topological groups by taking the category of topological spaces, or
by taking the category of manifolds, etc.
Groupoids
A groupoid object in the category of sets is precisely a
groupoid in the usual sense: a category in which every morphism is an
isomorphism. Indeed, given such a category
C, take
U to be the set of all objects in
C,
R the set of all morphisms in
C, the five morphisms given by
,
,
and
. When the term "groupoid" can naturally refer to a groupoid object in some particular category in mind, the term
groupoid set is used to refer to a groupoid object in the category of sets.
However, unlike in the previous example with Lie groups, a groupoid object in the category of manifolds is not necessarily a Lie groupoid, since the maps s and t fail to satisfy further requirements (they are not necessarily submersions).
Groupoid schemes
A
groupoid S-scheme is a groupoid object in the category of schemes over some fixed base scheme
S. If
, then a groupoid scheme (where
are necessarily the structure map) is the same as a
group scheme. A groupoid scheme is also called an
algebraic groupoid, to convey the idea it is a generalization of
and their actions.
For example, suppose an algebraic group G acts from the right on a scheme U. Then take , s the projection, t the given action. This determines a groupoid scheme.
Constructions
Given a groupoid object (
R,
U), the equalizer of
, if any, is a group object called the
inertia group of the groupoid. The
coequalizer of the same diagram, if any, is the quotient of the groupoid.
Each groupoid object in a category C (if any) may be thought of as a contravariant functor from C to the category of groupoids. This way, each groupoid object determines a prestack in groupoids. This prestack is not a stack but it can be stackification to yield a stack.
The main use of the notion is that it provides an atlas for a stack. More specifically, let be the category of -torsors. Then it is a category fibered in groupoids; in fact (in a nice case), a Deligne–Mumford stack. Conversely, any DM stack is of this form.
See also
Notes