# Surprising invertibility results

There are results in category theory that imply that some morphism is invertible when a priori one might not have expected it. For instance,

1. Given a monoidal natural transformation $$\tau$$ between strong monoidal functors (or more generally, we can work with Frobenius monoidal functors ), the component of $$\tau$$ at any dualizable object is invertible.
2. Given a lax monoidal functor $$F$$ with a lax monoidal right adjoint, $$F$$ is in fact strong monoidal (and other instances of doctrinal adjunction).
3. In some specific situations a given canonical morphism is invertible provided any non-canonical isomorphism exists. For instance, if a category has a zero object, binary products and binary coproducts, then the canonical natural transformation $$(-)\coprod (-)\to (-)\times (-)$$ is an isomorphism as soon there exists any natural isomorphism between these functors.

Do you know other surprising invertibility results that would fit the list? I'm primarily interested in categorical situations, but examples from other fields are welcome as well.

• Something similar happens for the unit and counit of an adjunction, iirc: if $FG\cong 1, GF\cong 1$ by some isomorphisms, then the right ones, unit and counit, are also invertible; follows from naturality. Nov 23 at 7:24