7.6 Orthogonal factorization
In set theory, the surjections and the injections form a unique factorization system: every function factors essentially uniquely as a surjection followed by an injection. We have seen that surjections generalize naturally to -connected maps, so it is natural to inquire whether these also participate in a factorization system. Here is the corresponding generalization of injections.
Definition 7.6.1.
A function is -truncated if the fiber is an -type for all .
In particular, is -truncated if and only if it is an equivalence. And of course, is an -type if and only if is -truncated. Moreover, -truncated maps could equivalently be defined recursively, like -types.
Lemma 7.6.2.
For any , a function is -truncated if and only if for all , the map is -truncated. In particular, is -truncated if and only if it is an embedding in the sense of Β§4.6 (http://planetmath.org/46surjectionsandembeddings).
Proof.
Note that for any , we have
Thus, any path space in any fiber of is a fiber of . On the other hand, choosing and we see that any fiber of is a path space in a fiber of . The result follows, since is -truncated if all path spaces of its fibers are -types. β
Definition 7.6.3.
Let be a function. The -image of is defined as
When , we write simply and call it the image of .
Lemma 7.6.4.
For any function , the canonical function is -connected. Consequently, any function factors as an -connected function followed by an -truncated function.
Proof.
Note that . The function is the function on total spaces induced by the canonical fiberwise transformation
Since each map is -connected by Corollary 7.5.8 (http://planetmath.org/75connectedness#Thmprecor2), is -connected by Lemma 7.5.13 (http://planetmath.org/75connectedness#Thmprelem8). Finally, the projection is -truncated, since its fibers are equivalent to the -truncations of the fibers of . β
In the following lemma we set up some machinery to prove the unique factorization theorem.
with , where and are -connected and where and are -truncated. Then there is an equivalence
for any , such that for any we have an identification
Proof.
Let . Then we have the following equivalences:
(since $g_{1}$ is $n$-connected) | ||||
(by Corollary 7.3.10 (http://planetmath.org/73truncationshmprecor2), since $h_{1}$ is $n$-truncated) | ||||
(by http://planetmath.org/node/87774Exercise 4.4) |
and likewise for and . Also, since we have a homotopy , there is an obvious equivalence . Hence we obtain
for any . By analyzing the underlying functions, we get the following representation of what happens to the element after applying each of the equivalences of which is composed. Some of the identifications are definitional, but others (marked with a below) are only propositional; putting them together we obtain .
The first equality is because for general , the map inserts the center of contraction for supplied by the assumption that is -truncated; whereas in the case in question this type has the obvious inhabitant , which by contractibility must be equal to the center. The second propositional equality is because the equivalence concatenates the second components with , and we have . The reader may check that the other equalities are definitional (assuming a reasonable solution to http://planetmath.org/node/87774Exercise 4.4). β
Combining Lemma 7.6.4 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem2),Lemma 7.6.5 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem3), we have the following unique factorization result:
Theorem 7.6.6.
For each , the space defined by
is contractible. Its center of contraction is the element
arising from Lemma 7.6.4 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem2), where is the canonical homotopy, where is the proof of Lemma 7.6.4 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem2), and where is the obvious proof that has -truncated fibers.
Proof.
By Lemma 7.6.4 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem2) we know that there is an element of , hence it is enough to show that is a mere proposition. Suppose we have two -factorizations
of . Then we have the pointwise-concatenated homotopy
By univalence and the characterization of paths and transport in -types, function types, and path types, it suffices to show that
-
1.
there is an equivalence ,
-
2.
there is a homotopy ,
-
3.
there is a homotopy ,
-
4.
for any we have .
We prove these four assertions in that order.
-
1.
By Lemma 7.6.5 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem3), we have a fiberwise equivalence
This induces an equivalence of total spaces, i.e.Β we have
Of course, we also have the equivalences and from Lemma 4.8.2 (http://planetmath.org/48theobjectclassifier#Thmprelem2). This gives us our equivalence ; the reader may verify that the underlying function of is given by
-
2.
By Lemma 7.6.5 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem3), we may choose .
-
3.
For every , we have
giving us a homotopy .
-
4.
By the characterization of paths in fibers (Lemma 4.2.5 (http://planetmath.org/42halfadjointequivalences#Thmprelem2)), the path from Lemma 7.6.5 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprelem3) gives us . The desired equality follows by substituting the definition of and rearranging paths.β
By standard arguments, this yields the following orthogonality principle.
Theorem 7.6.7.
Let be -connected and be -truncated. Then the map
is an equivalence.
Sketch of proof.
For any in the codomain, let and , where and are -connected and and are -truncated. Then and are both -factorizations of . Thus, there is a unique equivalence between them. It is straightforward (if a bit tedious) to extract from this that is contractible. β
We end by showing that images are stable under pullback.
Lemma 7.6.8.
Suppose that the square
HoTT_fig_7.6.2.png
is a pullback square and let . Then .
Proof.
This follows from pasting of pullbacks (http://planetmath.org/node/87643Exercise 2.12), since the type in the diagram
HoTT_fig_7.6.3.png
is the pullback of the left square if and only if it is the pullback of the outer rectangle, while is the pullback of the square on the left and is the pullback of the outer rectangle. β
Theorem 7.6.9.
Consider functions , and the diagram
HoTT_fig_7.6.4.png
If the outer rectangle is a pullback, then so is the bottom square (and hence so is the top square, by http://planetmath.org/node/87643Exercise 2.12). Consequently, images are stable under pullbacks.
Proof.
Assuming the outer square is a pullback, we have equivalences
(by Theorem 7.6.9 (http://planetmath.org/76orthogonalfactorization#Thmprethm3)) | ||||
Title | 7.6 Orthogonal factorization |
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