Weak equivalence (homotopy theory)In mathematics, a weak equivalence is a notion from homotopy theory that in some sense identifies objects that have the same "shape". This notion is formalized in the axiomatic definition of a . A model category is a with classes of morphisms called weak equivalences, fibrations, and cofibrations, satisfying several axioms. The associated of a model category has the same objects, but the morphisms are changed in order to make the weak equivalences into isomorphisms.
Mapping cone (homological algebra)In homological algebra, the mapping cone is a construction on a map of chain complexes inspired by the analogous construction in topology. In the theory of triangulated categories it is a kind of combined and cokernel: if the chain complexes take their terms in an , so that we can talk about cohomology, then the cone of a map f being acyclic means that the map is a quasi-isomorphism; if we pass to the of complexes, this means that f is an isomorphism there, which recalls the familiar property of maps of groups, modules over a ring, or elements of an arbitrary abelian category that if the kernel and cokernel both vanish, then the map is an isomorphism.
Kernel (category theory)In and its applications to other branches of mathematics, kernels are a generalization of the kernels of group homomorphisms, the kernels of module homomorphisms and certain other kernels from algebra. Intuitively, the kernel of the morphism f : X → Y is the "most general" morphism k : K → X that yields zero when composed with (followed by) f. Note that kernel pairs and difference kernels (also known as binary equalisers) sometimes go by the name "kernel"; while related, these aren't quite the same thing and are not discussed in this article.
Cone (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, the cone of a functor is an abstract notion used to define the of that functor. Cones make other appearances in category theory as well. Let F : J → C be a in C. Formally, a diagram is nothing more than a functor from J to C. The change in terminology reflects the fact that we think of F as indexing a family of and morphisms in C. The J is thought of as an "index category". One should consider this in analogy with the concept of an indexed family of objects in set theory.
Kaplansky's theorem on projective modulesIn abstract algebra, Kaplansky's theorem on projective modules, first proven by Irving Kaplansky, states that a projective module over a local ring is free; where a not-necessarily-commutative ring is called local if for each element x, either x or 1 − x is a unit element. The theorem can also be formulated so to characterize a local ring (#Characterization of a local ring). For a finite projective module over a commutative local ring, the theorem is an easy consequence of Nakayama's lemma.
Initial and terminal objectsIn , a branch of mathematics, an initial object of a C is an object I in C such that for every object X in C, there exists precisely one morphism I → X. The notion is that of a terminal object (also called terminal element): T is terminal if for every object X in C there exists exactly one morphism X → T. Initial objects are also called coterminal or universal, and terminal objects are also called final. If an object is both initial and terminal, it is called a zero object or null object.
Monoid (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, a monoid (or monoid object, or internal monoid, or algebra) (M, μ, η) in a (C, ⊗, I) is an M together with two morphisms μ: M ⊗ M → M called multiplication, η: I → M called unit, such that the pentagon and the unitor diagram commute. In the above notation, 1 is the identity morphism of M, I is the unit element and α, λ and ρ are respectively the associativity, the left identity and the right identity of the monoidal category C. Dually, a comonoid in a monoidal category C is a monoid in the Cop.
Hopf algebraIn mathematics, a Hopf algebra, named after Heinz Hopf, is a structure that is simultaneously an (unital associative) algebra and a (counital coassociative) coalgebra, with these structures' compatibility making it a bialgebra, and that moreover is equipped with an antiautomorphism satisfying a certain property. The representation theory of a Hopf algebra is particularly nice, since the existence of compatible comultiplication, counit, and antipode allows for the construction of tensor products of representations, trivial representations, and dual representations.
Descent (mathematics)In mathematics, the idea of descent extends the intuitive idea of 'gluing' in topology. Since the topologists' glue is the use of equivalence relations on topological spaces, the theory starts with some ideas on identification. The case of the construction of vector bundles from data on a disjoint union of topological spaces is a straightforward place to start. Suppose X is a topological space covered by open sets Xi. Let Y be the disjoint union of the Xi, so that there is a natural mapping We think of Y as 'above' X, with the Xi projection 'down' onto X.
Motivic cohomologyMotivic cohomology is an invariant of algebraic varieties and of more general schemes. It is a type of cohomology related to motives and includes the Chow ring of algebraic cycles as a special case. Some of the deepest problems in algebraic geometry and number theory are attempts to understand motivic cohomology. Let X be a scheme of finite type over a field k. A key goal of algebraic geometry is to compute the Chow groups of X, because they give strong information about all subvarieties of X.
