2-category
2-category
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2-category

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2-category

In category theory in mathematics, a 2-category is a category with "morphisms between morphisms", called 2-morphisms. A basic example is the category Cat of all (small) categories, where a 2-morphism is a natural transformation between functors.

The concept of a strict 2-category was first introduced by Charles Ehresmann in his work on enriched categories in 1965. The more general concept of bicategory (or weak 2-category), where composition of morphisms is associative only up to a 2-isomorphism, was introduced in 1967 by Jean Bénabou.

A (2, 1)-category is a 2-category where each 2-morphism is invertible.

By definition, a strict 2-category C consists of the data:

that are subject to the following conditions

The 0-cells, 1-cells, and 2-cells terminology is replaced by 0-morphisms, 1-morphisms, and 2-morphisms in some sources (see also Higher category theory). Vertical compositions and horizontal compositions are also written as .

The interchange law can be drawn as a pasting diagram as follows:

Here the left-hand diagram denotes the vertical composition of horizontal composites, the right-hand diagram denotes the horizontal composition of vertical composites, and the diagram in the centre is the customary representation of both. The 2-cell are drawn with double arrows ⇒, the 1-cell with single arrows →, and the 0-cell with points.

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