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[parent] $\mathcal{U}$-small (Definition)

Let $ \mathcal{U}$ be a universe (so is, in particular, a set of sets).

A set $ S$ is said to be $ \mathcal{U}$-small if it is isomorphic to an element of $ \mathcal{U}$ (i.e., there is a bijection between $ S$ and some element of $ \mathcal{U}$).

A category $ C$ is $ \mathcal{U}$-small (or just small, if no confusion is likely to arise) if the set of objects of $ C$ is isomorphic to a set in $ \mathcal{U}$, and is a $ \mathcal{U}$-category if for every pair of objects $ A$, $ B$ in $ C$, $ {\mathrm{Hom}}(A,B)$ is isomorphic to a set in $ \mathcal{U}$.

These definitions amount to restrictions on the cardinality of the objects involved, and are intended to provide a condition that will allow operations such as extracting the category of functors or taking the direct limit to give results that are reasonable, that is, either isomorphic to an object of $ \mathcal{U}$ or made up of objects of $ \mathcal{U}$.

Observe that the category of subsets of $ \mathcal{U}$ is a $ \mathcal{U}$-category but is not $ \mathcal{U}$-small.

Bibliography

SGA4
Grothendieck et al., Séminaires en Gèometrie Algèbrique 4, tomes 1, 2, and 3.
Mur68
Murphy, O. Some modern methods in the theory of lion hunting, American Mathematical Monthly 75 (2), Feb., 1968, 185-187.



"$\mathcal{U}$-small" is owned by mathcam. [ full author list (2) | owner history (1) ]
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See Also: universe, category, inverse limit

Also defines:  $\mathcal{U}$-category, small category, kittygory

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Cross-references: subsets, direct limit, functors, operations, cardinality, definitions, objects, category, bijection, isomorphic, universe
There are 15 references to this entry.

This is version 8 of $\mathcal{U}$-small, born on 2004-03-01, modified 2008-03-18.
Object id is 5658, canonical name is Small.
Accessed 6961 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC03E30 (Mathematical logic and foundations :: Set theory :: Axiomatics of classical set theory and its fragments)
 18A15 (Category theory; homological algebra :: General theory of categories and functors :: Foundations, relations to logic and deductive systems)

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title too general by archibal on 2004-03-05 11:32:37
I initially named this entry "small" because that is the technical term used to mean this. But a correction was filed asking me to change it (to $U$-small, which is occasionally also used). Noticing that about fifty entries pointed here, three of which meant the right thing, I did, but filed corrections against those three. Which brings me to my point:

Can I do a search for "what would point here if it were titled X?" This might be useful for entries that define common words in unusual ways. The entry "fix", which I usually have to linkescape, is maybe not such a good candidate as there are many places that want to link to it. But surely there are others...
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