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Viewing Version 4 of 'regular category'
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Title of object: regular category
Canonical Name: RegularCategory
Type: Definition

Created on: 2008-10-03 01:27:50
Modified on: 2008-10-08 14:12:05

Creator: CWoo
Modifier: CWoo
Author: CWoo

Classification: msc:18E10
Defines: exact sequence

Preamble:

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Content:

A category $\mathcal{C}$ is called a \emph{regular category} if
\begin{enumerate}
\item every morphism has a kernel pair,
\item every kernel pair has a coequalizer, and
\item the pullback of every regular epimorphism along any morphism exists and is again regular. This means the following: if $f:A\to B$ is a regular epimorphism, and $g:C\to B$ is any morphism, then the pullback diagram below
$$
\xymatrix@+=1.5cm{D \ar[r]^h \ar[d] & C \ar[d]^g \\ A \ar[r]_f & B}
$$
exists, and $h$ is again a regular epimorphism.
\end{enumerate}

Some examples of regular categories are: any abelian category, the category of sets, and the category of groups. On the other hand, the category of topological spaces and the category of small categories are not regular.

\textbf{Remark}. Regular categories are generalizations of abelian categories, so that the exactness conditions can be defined without the requirement that the categories be additive. More precisely, in a regular category $\mathcal{C}$, we define an \emph{exact sequence} to be a 6-tuple $(A,B,C,f,g,h)$ where
\begin{itemize}
\item $A,B,C$ are objects
\item $f,g:A\to B$ and $h:B\to C$ are morphisms: $\xymatrix@+=2cm{A \ar@<0.5ex>[r]^f \ar@<-0.5ex>[r]_g & B \ar[r]^h & C}$
\end{itemize}
such that $(f,g)$ is the kernel pair of $h$ and $h$ is the coequalizer of $f$ and $g$. $h$ is the coequalizer portion of the exact sequence, and $(f,g)$ is the kernel pair portion of the exact sequence.

One of the first consequences of the above definition is: every regular epimorphism in a regular category is the coequalizer portion of an exact sequence.

The main result, however, is that, in an abelian category, the two notions of the exactness coincide in the following sense: $(A,B,C,f,g,h)$ is exact precisely when
$$\xymatrix@+=2cm{0 \ar[r] & A \ar[r]^-{f \choose g} & B\oplus B \ar[r]^-{(h \enspace -h)} & C \ar[r] & 0}$$
is a short exact sequence.