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38 votes
10 answers
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Big list of comonads

The concept of a monad is very well established, and there are very many examples of monads pertaining almost all areas of mathematics. The dual concept, a comonad, is less popular. What are examples ...
30 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why are monadicity and descent related?

This question is probably too vague for experts, but I really don't know how to avoid it. I've read in several places that under mild conditions, a morphism is an effective descent morphism iff the ...
Arrow's user avatar
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26 votes
2 answers
5k views

What is known about the category of monads on Set?

Monads on the category Set of sets and functions are somehow fundamental objects of category theory, and moreover they have important applications to computer science. We know of a good number of ...
David Spivak's user avatar
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26 votes
1 answer
2k views

Infinity-categorical analogue of compact Hausdorff

Recently I became through this mathoverflow question aware of the article Codensity and the ultrafilter monad by Tom Leinster. There he shows that the ultrafilter monad on the category $\mathrm{Set}$ ...
Lennart Meier's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
3k views

"Functors between monads": what are these really called?

Let $(S,\eta,\mu)$ be a monad on a category $C$, and $(T,\eta,\mu)$ a monad on a category $D$. The following kind of gadget is ubiquitous: a functor $F:D\to C$, together with a natural map $\sigma: ...
Charles Rezk's user avatar
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25 votes
2 answers
2k views

Relation between monads, operads and algebraic theories (Again)

This question (as the title obviously suggests) is similar to, or a continuation of, this question that was asked years ago on MO by a different user. The present question, though, is different from ...
Qfwfq's user avatar
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25 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is forming the Albanese variety a monad?

I'm trying to understand the idea of an Albanese variety. It reminds me of something simpler: Given a set $X$ with a chosen point $x \in X$, we can form the free abelian group on the pointed set $(X,...
John Baez's user avatar
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24 votes
6 answers
4k views

Any example of a non-strong monad?

Looking for an example of a monad that is not strong. The reason being, a strong monad (wrt cartesian product) is an "applicative functor" (in functional programming); an example of a non-strong ...
Vlad Patryshev's user avatar
23 votes
1 answer
1k views

What, mathematically speaking, does it mean to say that the continuation monad can simulate all monads?

In various places it is stated that the continuation monad can simulate all monads in some sense (see for example http://lambda1.jimpryor.net/manipulating_trees_with_monads/)) In particular, in http://...
user65526's user avatar
  • 639
21 votes
4 answers
2k views

Conceptual reason that monadic functors create limits?

Let $U: Alg_T \to C$ be the forgetful functor from the category of algebras of $T: C \to C$ ($T$ could be a monad; I'm happy to think about the simpler case where $T$ is just an endofunctor or pointed ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
21 votes
3 answers
3k views

Relation between monads, operads and algebraic theories

I've begun to interest in algebraic theories and their categorical models: in particular monads, generalized multicategories and operads, lawvere theories and their generalization. Is there any ...
Giorgio Mossa's user avatar
21 votes
0 answers
1k views

Can we describe equivariant vector bundles of free group action in terms of descent theory (Barr-Beck theorem)?

It is well known that for a compact topological group $G$ acts (say, from the right) freely on a compact space $X$. Then the category of equivariant complex vector bundles on $X$, $\text{Vect}_G(X)$, ...
Zhaoting Wei's user avatar
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18 votes
1 answer
1k views

Applications of the Giry monad in probability and statistics

In another thread, I asked about the $M$ endofunctor on the category $\operatorname{Meas}$ of measurable spaces, which sends a space $X$ to its space of measures $M(X)$. Will Sawin described the ...
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

Jon Beck's untitled manuscript containing the "tripleability theorem" (i.e. the monadicity theorem)

Many papers refer to an untitled manuscript of Jon Beck (Cornell, 1966) for the origin of the monadicity theorem (originally called a "tripleability theorem"). An early proof is in Manes's ...
varkor's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
591 views

A new (?) way of composing monads

By composition of monads, I mean given two monads $S$ and $T$, making their composite $S T$ into a monad. Or more generally, given two monoid $X$ and $Y$ in a non-symetric monoidal category, making $X ...
Simon Henry's user avatar
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16 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why are operads sometimes better than algebraic theories?

Question 1: Are there any contexts in which replacing the category of (non-symmetric or symmetric) operads (in some monoidal category or symmetric monoidal category, respectively) with the category of ...
Arshak Aivazian's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
768 views

Reference request for Linton's theorems on equational theories

This is a reference request for the following "well-known" theorems in category theory: There is an equivalence of categories between finitary monads on $\mathbf{Set}$ and finitary Lawvere ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
989 views

Characterization of Kleisli adjunctions

There's a well known theorem due to Beck that characterizes when an adjunction is monadic, that is, if $F$ is left adjoint to $G$, $G:D \to C$, $GF:=T$ is always a monad on $C$, and the adjunction is ...
David Carchedi's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
478 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), ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
695 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?
Gerrit Begher's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
1k views

Are monads monadic?

Is there some sort of monad whose algebras are monads? How about if we are internal to a bicategory B? Are internal monads in B monadic? Certainly not always, as otherwise free T-multicategories a la ...
David Carchedi's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

How exactly is Hochschild homology a monad homology?

Many texts which praise the generality of the bar construction associated to a monad, say that Hochschild homology is an example of this. What exactly is in this case the underlying endofunctor of ...
Peter Arndt's user avatar
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14 votes
2 answers
1k views

The reflexive free-category comonad-resolution is a cofibrant replacement of the discrete simplicial category associated with an ordinary category in the Bergner model structure on the category of small simplicial categories?

Let $X$ be the category of reflexive quivers, and let $Cat$ be the category of small categories. There exists an evident forgetful functor $U:Cat\to X$ sending a category $A$ to its underlying ...
Harry Gindi's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
510 views

What are internal complete atomic boolean algebras, intuitively?

The category of complete atomic boolean algebras $\mathbf{CABA}$ is equivalent to $\mathbf{Set}^{\mathrm{op}}$ via $$\mathbf{Set}^{\mathrm{op}} \to \mathbf{CABA}, ~ X \mapsto (P(X),\bigcup,\bigcap).$$ ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

Where is there a treatment of "exponential monads"?

I have a category $C$, which is equipped with a symmetric monoidal structure (tensor product $\otimes$, unit object $1$). My category also has finite coproducts (I'll write them using $\oplus$, and ...
Charles Rezk's user avatar
  • 27.2k
13 votes
2 answers
831 views

Categories which are both monadic and comonadic over another category

I heard a professor say that $\lambda$-rings are both monadic and comonadic over commutative rings. Remark 2.11(a) on the nlab page says the same. What does it mean, intuitively, that a category is ...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.5k
13 votes
3 answers
672 views

How algebraic can the dual of a topological category be?

(I'm going to try to use definitions from Abstract and Concrete Categories: The Joy of Cats by Adámek, Herrlich, and Strecker, since both of the adjectives in the title of my question seem to have at ...
James E Hanson's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

An elementary question about adjunctions between presheaf categories preserving pullbacks.

A functor $C \to D$ between categories induces a morphism of presheaf categories $Pre(D) \to Pre(C)$. This functor has a left adjoint given by left Kan extension and I am interested in knowing when ...
Chris Schommer-Pries's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
376 views

when is an integer sequence the trace of a monad on FinSet?

Given $(a_n \in \mathbb{N})$, when is there a monad $T$ on $\mathrm{FinSet}$ such that $$ | T(n) | = a_n\quad\forall n\in \mathbb{N}\:? $$
Felix Dilke's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
513 views

Extending monads along dense functors

Let $j: \mathsf A \to \mathsf B$ be a fully faithful and dense functor where $\mathsf A$ is a small category and $\mathsf B$ is cocomplete. Let $(T, \eta, \mu)$ be a monad over $\mathsf A$. $\require{...
Ivan Di Liberti's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
255 views

Double category of algebras, lax and colax morphisms of algebras

As explained on this nlab page, for a 2-monad there is a double category of (strict) algebras, horizontal morphisms are lax morphisms and vertical morphisms are colax morphisms of algebras. However it ...
Axel Osmond's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
806 views

Slicing up monads on categories with pullbacks: what are these mysterious "zerosumfree" monads"

Introduction I'll describe a way of taking a monad on a category $\mathcal{E}$ with pullbacks, and obtaining a monad on each slice category. I'll show that this construction is always lax-natural in $...
David Spivak's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
755 views

When does the forgetful functor from algebras over a monad commute with homotopy geometric realizations?

Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a combinatorial model category and $\mathrm{T}$ a monad on $\mathcal{C}.$ Assume that the model structure on $\mathcal{C}$ lifts to a model structure on the category of $\...
Hadrian Heine's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
466 views

Characterization of functors whose right adjoint is monadic?

Let $F: \mathcal A^\to_\leftarrow \mathcal B: U$ be an adjunction, and suppose we want to know whether the comparision functor $\mathcal B \to Alg^{UF}$ is an equivalence, where $Alg^{UF}$ is the ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
862 views

Right actions of operads and monads

Given an operad $A$, there is an associated monad $M_A$ given by $M_A(X) = \coprod_n A(n) \otimes X^{\otimes n}$ such that being an $A$-algebra and being an algebra over the monad $M_A$ is the same ...
Tilman's user avatar
  • 6,162
10 votes
1 answer
333 views

2-monads for categories with a class of (co)limits

This question concerns the strictness of (co)completions, at various levels of generality. In Blackwell–Kelly–Power's Two-dimensional monad theory, the authors state For instance, the 2-category $\...
varkor's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
632 views

Reference for my monads?

I'm looking for a reference for a certain pair of monads on $Cat$. One problem is that I don't know the modern way of thinking about some basic things, so excuse me if my presentation is naive. First ...
David Spivak's user avatar
  • 8,669
10 votes
1 answer
485 views

Relative cocompletion of a category

$\newcommand{\k}{\mathbf k}$ $\newcommand{\A}{\mathcal A}$ $\newcommand{\B}{\mathcal B}$ $\newcommand{\C}{\mathcal C}$ I'm wondering if anyone knows a reference for the following construction: let $\k$...
Adrien's user avatar
  • 8,524
10 votes
1 answer
404 views

2-completeness of stacks

I am looking for a reference which discusses the 2-categorical properties of the 2-category $St(C,J)$ of stacks and the stackification $\dashv$ inclusion of presheaves 2-adjunction. My stacks are ...
Nico's user avatar
  • 775
10 votes
0 answers
217 views

What are the (co)algebras for the $(\operatorname{Hom}(A,-), A\otimes-)$ adjunction (co)monad?

A module $A$ over a commutative ring $k$ gives a pair of adjoint endofunctors, $(A\otimes_k-)$ left adjoint to $\operatorname{Hom}_k(A,-)$. They produce a monad $T_A$ and a comonad $C_A$. Is there any ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
328 views

Understanding a monad from its fixed points

Let $(T, \eta, \mu)$ be monad over $\mathsf{C}$. And let $\iota : \mathsf{Fix}(T) \hookrightarrow \mathsf{C}$ be the inclusion of the full subcategory of fixed points of $T$. By the universal ...
Ivan Di Liberti's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
252 views

Colimits of algebras for $\infty$-Monad

I would like to know in anyone has developed method for constructing colimits in the category of algebra for a monad in the $(\infty,1)$-categorical framework, using transfinite constructions. I have ...
Simon Henry's user avatar
  • 42.4k
9 votes
5 answers
1k views

English Reference for the Bénabou-Roubaud theorem

The Bénabou-Roubaud theorem links fibrational descent theory with monadicity. Particularly, it says that given a bifibration satisfying the Beck-Chevalley condition w.r.t some arrow $p$ in the base ...
Arrow's user avatar
  • 10.5k
9 votes
1 answer
951 views

The crude monadicity theorem

In order to test the monadicity of a functor, there is a precise monadicity theorem (PM) as well as a crude monadicity theorem (CM), see the nlab. In CM, the forgetful functor should create reflexive ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
668 views

When were triples called monads for the first time?

I am fine-tuning a short note on basic category theory; any such course must introduce monads, and I want to give a bit of history of the subject. I soon realized that I don't know the precise series ...
fosco's user avatar
  • 13.6k
9 votes
2 answers
865 views

When do functors induce monadic adjunctions to presheaf categories

For a category $C$, let $C-Set$ denote the category of set-valued functors $\delta\colon C\to Set$. Given categories $C$ and $D$, and a functor $F\colon C\to D$, composition with $F$ yields a functor ...
David Spivak's user avatar
  • 8,669
9 votes
2 answers
739 views

Correspondence between operads and monads requires tensor distribute over coproduct?

In checking the details of the correspondence between operads over a symmetric monoidal category and monads on some associated endofunctor of the category, I cannot make the obvious proof work without ...
ziggurism's user avatar
  • 1,446
9 votes
1 answer
499 views

Re-seating a monad

Let $\mathcal C$ and $\mathcal D$ be categories with suitable limits and colimits for the following discussion. Is it possible to re-interpret, or "re-seat" a monad $T : \mathcal C \to \mathcal C$ as ...
Aleks Kissinger's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
366 views

monadic decomposition

Let $\mathrm{F}: \mathcal{C} \rightleftarrows \mathcal{D} : \mathrm{G} $ be an adjunction with associated monad $\mathrm{T} = \mathrm{G} \mathrm{F} .$ If $\mathcal{D} $ admits coequalizers of $\...
Hadrian Heine's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
432 views

Two definitions of a monad on an ∞-category

In the literature on $\infty$-categories (quasi-categories) I found two different definitions of a monad on an $\infty$-category, and I don't understand the relation between them. The first ...
Sergei Ivanov's user avatar

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