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I have been thinking about multisets for a while. These are sets where elements can repeat, so $S =\{ a,a,b,c,b\}$ is a multiset on the set $A = \{a,b,c\}$.

I have also been looking into morphisms between multisets. Take two multisets $S_A, S_B$ with underlying sets $A, B$. I would like to define a morphism between multisets $S_A, S_B$ as a span on the underlying sets, so $f = A \leftarrow C \rightarrow B$, and $f: S_A \rightarrow S_B$. I am not sure how to define span composition. I am thinking a lot about David Spivak's work these days, so I am going to suggest a definition from his text, see section 2.5.2.3, which I cannot reproduce here. He uses fiber products.

I have two questions. Firstly, does my definition of the objects and morphisms define a category? Secondly, is it the case that the definition of morphism, as given, also constitutes a tensor product between multisets in the category as defined?

I have only an intuition that tells me that this definition of morphism is both a morphism of multisets in the category defined but is also a tensor product. We know that the Eilenberg-Moore category for the multiset monad is actually $\mathbb{N}$-modules. We should find a notion of tensor product there. I am guessing that we can define a monad on Set that maps a set to its set of multisets and spans as defined. There should be a similar category of modules, and thus a tensor product. I can only guess that what I am thinking means that the spans, as defined, map to both morphisms in the category of modules and the tensor product in the category of modules.

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    $\begingroup$ 1. You haven't defined composition so you haven't defined a category. 2. I don't understand what you mean by "a tensor product between multisets". What's the tensor product supposed to be? $\endgroup$ Nov 8, 2018 at 15:25
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    $\begingroup$ Span composition is defined in 2.5.2.3 that you refer to. You mean you want to modify it so as to depend on $S_A$ and $S_B$ somehow? $\endgroup$ Nov 8, 2018 at 15:58
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, the span composition would depend on $S_A$ and $S_B$, I was hoping I would not have to modify it. I am saying that the morpisms are just spans and then morphism composition is just span composition. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Sprott
    Nov 8, 2018 at 16:07

1 Answer 1

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One possibility is as follows. I'll think of a multiset as a finite set $X$ equipped with a multiplicity function $m_X \colon X \to \{1,2,3,\dotsc\}$. We can then define a morphism from $X$ to $Y$ to be a function such that $m_Y(y)=\sum_{x\in f^{-1}\{y\}}m_X(x)$ for all $y$. These can be thought of as "bijections up to multiplicity". Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the resulting category of multisets, and let $\mathcal{M}_{\leq k}$ be the subcategory where all multiplicities are at most $k$. These are symmetric monoidal categories under the evident disjoint union operation, so they have $K$-theory spectra in the sense of stable homotopy theory. Standard arguments show that $K(\mathcal{M}_{\leq 1})$ is just the sphere spectrum. We can also consider $\mathbb{N}$ as a symmetric monoidal category, and there is an adjunction between $\mathcal{M}$ and $\mathbb{N}$ and $K(\mathcal{M})$, which gives rise to a homotopy equivalence between $K(\mathcal{M})$ and $K(\mathbb{N})$, which is just the integer Eilenberg-MacLane spectrum. The really interesting point is that $K(\mathcal{M}_{\leq k})$ is equivalent to $SP^k(S^0)$, the $k$'th symmetric power of the sphere spectrum, which is important for a variety of reasons. This is essentially a translation of an old theorem of Kathryn Lesh, which she formulated in rather different terms.

As well as the disjoint union, we can also use the function $m_{X\times Y}(x,y)=m_X(x)m_Y(y)$ to make $X\times Y$ into a multiset. This makes $\mathcal{M}$ into a symmetric bimonoidal category, with $\mathcal{M}_{\leq 1}$ as a symmetric bimonoidal subcategory; this corresponds to the fact that $S$ and $H$ are ring spectra. This construction also restricts to give functors $\mathcal{M}_{\leq j}\times\mathcal{M}_{\leq k}\to\mathcal{M}_{\leq jk}$, which again have natural counterparts in stable homotopy theory.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for your answer Neil. I am afraid it is not my field of expertise. I am hoping someone can write an intervening post to explain your answer a bit more. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Sprott
    Nov 10, 2018 at 15:47

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