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In an Abelian category $\mathcal{A}$, let {$A_i$} be a family of subobjects of an object $A$. How to show that if $\mathcal{A}$ is cocomplete(i.e. the coproduct always exists in $\mathcal{A}$), then there is a smallest subobject $\sum{A_i}$ of $A$ containing all of $A_i$?

Surely this $\sum{A_i}$ cannot be the coproduct of {$A_i$}, but I have no clue what it should be.

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    push out of pull back of $A_i \to A$2011-08-20
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    @Alexander: That only works for a pair of subobjects. If you have three subobjects, the pullback may be trivial even when there are non-trivial pairwise intersections.2011-08-20
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    @Zhen: for three objects $A_1 + A_2 + A_3 = (A_1 + A_2) + A_3$ obviously2011-08-20
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    You seem to have found the right generalization though.2011-08-20

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You are quite right that it can't be the coproduct, since that is in general not a subobject of $A$. Here are two ways of constructing the desired subobject:

  1. As Pierre-Yves suggested in the comments, the easiest way is to take the image of the canonical map $\bigoplus_i A_i \to A$. This works in any cocomplete category with unique epi-mono factorisation.

  2. Alternatively, the subobject $\sum A_i$ can be constructed by taking the colimit over the semilattice of the $A_i$ and their intersections. This construction can be carried out in any bicomplete category, but is not guaranteed to give a subobject of $A$ unless the category is nice enough.

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    Dear Zhen Li: I'll tell you what I'd have answered, and you (or someone else) will tell me why it's incorrect, if you're patient enough. The coproduct maps naturally to $A$, with some kernel. Thus, the quotient of the coproduct by the kernel can be viewed as a subobject.2011-08-20
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    @Pierre-Yves: That works too. Or we can just directly ask for the image, since every morphism in an abelian category has a unique epi-mono factorisation.2011-08-20
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    Dear Zhen Lin, thank you very much!2011-08-20
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    +1. Nice answer! [Thanks for the edit! Sorry I had forgotten to upvote, and now it looks like I did it because you were kind enough to put my name. I hope people will think I'm self-centered, but not to that extent... ;)]2011-08-20
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    @Zhen Lin Thank you very much!2011-08-20