6.12 The flattening lemma
As we will see in http://planetmath.org/node/87582Chapter 8, amazing things happen when we combine higher inductive types with univalence. The principal way this comes about is that if is a higher inductive type and is a type universe, then we can define a type family by using the recursion principle for . When we come to the clauses of the recursion principle dealing with the path constructors of , we will need to supply paths in , and this is where univalence comes in.
For example, suppose we have a type and a self-equivalence . Then we can define a type family by using -recursion:
The type thus appears as the fiber of over the basepoint. The self-equivalence is a little more hidden in , but the following lemma says that it can be extracted by transporting along .
Lemma 6.12.1.
Given and , with a path and an equivalence such that , then for any we have
Proof.
Applying Lemma 2.10.5 (http://planetmath.org/210universesandtheunivalenceaxiom#Thmprelem2), we have
We have seen type families defined by recursion before: in Β§2.12 (http://planetmath.org/212coproducts),Β§2.13 (http://planetmath.org/213naturalnumbers) we used them to characterize the identity types of (ordinary) inductive types. In http://planetmath.org/node/87582Chapter 8, we will use similar ideas to calculate homotopy groups of higher inductive types.
In this section, we describe a general lemma about type families of this sort which will be useful later on. We call it the flattening lemma: it says that if is defined recursively as above, then its total space is equivalent to a βflattenedβ higher inductive type, whose constructors may be deduced from those of and the definition of . From a category-theoretic point of view, is the βGrothendieck constructionβ of , and this expresses its universal property as a βlax colimitβ.
We prove here one general case of the flattening lemma, which directly implies many particular cases and suggests the method to prove others. Suppose we have and , and that the higher inductive type is generated by
-
β’
and
-
β’
.
Thus, is the (homotopy) coequalizer of and . Using binary sums (coproducts) and dependent sums (-types), a lot of interesting nonrecursive higher inductive types can be represented in this form. All point constructors have to be bundled in the type and all path constructors in the type . For instance:
-
β’
The circle can be represented by taking and , with and the identity.
-
β’
The pushout of and can be represented by taking and , with and .
Now suppose in addition that
-
β’
is a family of types over , and
-
β’
is a family of equivalences over .
Define a type family inductively by
Let be the higher inductive type generated by
-
β’
and
-
β’
.
The flattening lemma is:
Lemma 6.12.2 (Flattening lemma).
In the above situation, we have
As remarked above, this equivalence can be seen as expressing the universal property of as a βlax colimitβ of over . It can also be seen as part of the stability and descent property of colimits, which characterizes higher toposes.
The proof of Lemma 6.12.2 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem2) occupies the rest of this section. It is somewhat technical and can be skipped on a first reading. But it is also a good example of βproof-relevant mathematicsβ, so we recommend it on a second reading.
The idea is to show that has the same universal property as . We begin by showing that it comes with analogues of the constructors and .
Lemma 6.12.3.
There are functions
-
β’
and
-
β’
.
Proof.
The first is easy; define and note that by definition . For the second, suppose given and ; we must give an equality
Since we have , by equalities in -types it suffices to give an equality . But this follows from Lemma 6.12.1 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem1), using the definition of . β
Now the following lemma says to define a section of a type family over , it suffices to give analogous data as in the case of .
Lemma 6.12.4.
Suppose is a type family and that we have
-
β’
and
-
β’
.
Then there exists such that .
Proof.
Suppose given and ; we must produce an element . By induction on , it suffices to consider two cases. When , then we have , and so as desired. (This part of the definition also ensures that the stated computational rule holds.)
Now we must show that this definition is preserved by transporting along for any . Since what we are defining, for all , is a function of type , by Lemma 2.9.7 (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom#Thmprelem2) it suffices to show that for any , we have
Let be the path obtained from Lemma 6.12.1 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem1). Then we have
(by $\mathsf{apd}_{x\mapstoc(g(b),x)}(\mathord{{q}^{-1}})$) | ||||
(by Lemma 2.3.10 (http://planetmath.org/23typefamiliesarefibrationshmprelem7)) |
Thus, it suffices to show
Moving the right-hand transport to the other side, and combining two transports, this is equivalent to
However, we have
so the construction is completed by the assumption of type
Lemma 6.12.4 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem4) almost gives the same induction principle as . The missing bit is the equality . In order to prove this, we would need to analyze the proof of Lemma 6.12.4 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem4), which of course is the definition of .
It should be possible to do this, but it turns out that we only need the computation rule for the non-dependent recursion principle. Thus, we now give a somewhat simpler direct construction of the recursor, and a proof of its computation rule.
Lemma 6.12.5.
Suppose is a type and that we have
-
β’
and
-
β’
.
Then there exists such that .
Proof.
As in Lemma 6.12.4 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem4), we define by induction on . When , we define . Now by Lemma 2.9.6 (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom#Thmprelem1), it suffices to consider, for and , the composite path
(6.12.6) |
defined as the composition
(by Lemma 2.3.5 (http://planetmath.org/23typefamiliesarefibrationshmprelem4)) | ||||
(by $p(b,y)$) | ||||
(by Lemma 6.12.1 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemmahmprelem1)) |
The computation rule follows by definition, as before. β
For the second computation rule, we need the following lemma.
Lemma 6.12.7.
Let be a type family and let be defined componentwise by for a curried function . Then for any and any and with a path , the path
is equal to the composite
(by $\mathord{{\text{(Lemma 2.3.5 ({http://planetmath.org/23typefamiliesarefibrationshmprelem4}))}}^{-1}}$) | ||||
(byΒ (2.9.4) (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom0.E3)) | ||||
(by $\mathsf{happly}(\mathsf{apd}_{d}(s))({s}_{*}\mathopen{}\left({y_{1}}\right)\mathclose{}$) | ||||
(by $\mathsf{ap}_{d(x_{2})}(r)$) | ||||
Proof.
After path induction on and , both equalities reduce to reflexivities. β
At first it may seem surprising that Lemma 6.12.7 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem6) has such a complicated statement, while it can be proven so simply. The reason for the complication is to ensure that the statement is well-typed: and the composite path it is claimed to be equal to must both have the same start and end points. Once we have managed this, the proof is easy by path induction.
Lemma 6.12.8.
In the situation of Lemma 6.12.5 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem5), we have .
Proof.
Recall that where comes from Lemma 6.12.1 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem1). Thus, since is defined componentwise, we may compute by Lemma 6.12.7 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem6), with
The curried function was defined by induction on ; to apply Lemma 6.12.7 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem6) we need to understand and .
For the first, since , we have
For the second, the computation rule for the induction principle of tells us that is equal to the compositeΒ (6.12.6), passed across the equivalence of Lemma 2.9.6 (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom#Thmprelem1). Thus, the computation rule given in Lemma 2.9.6 (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom#Thmprelem1) implies that is equal to the composite
(byΒ (2.9.4) (http://planetmath.org/29pitypesandthefunctionextensionalityaxiom0.E3)) | ||||
(by Lemma 2.3.5 (http://planetmath.org/23typefamiliesarefibrationshmprelem4)) | ||||
(by $p(b,y)$) | ||||
(by $\mathord{{\mathsf{ap}_{c(g(b),-)}(q)}^{-1}}$) |
Finally, substituting these values of and into Lemma 6.12.7 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem6), we see that all the paths cancel out in pairs, leaving only . β
Now we are finally ready to prove the flattening lemma.
Proof of Lemma 6.12.2 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem2).
We define by using the recursion principle for , with and as input data. Similarly, we define by using the recursion principle of Lemma 6.12.5 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem5), with and as input data.
On the one hand, we must show that for any , we have . By induction on , it suffices to consider the two constructors of . But we have
by definition, while similarly
using the propositional computation rule for and Lemma 6.12.8 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem7).
On the other hand, we must show that for any , we have . But this is essentially identical, using Lemma 6.12.4 (http://planetmath.org/612theflatteninglemma#Thmprelem4) for βinduction on β and the same computation rules. β
Title | 6.12 The flattening lemma |
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