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In mathematics, and particularly category theory, a coherence condition is a collection of conditions requiring that various compositions of elementary morphisms are equal. Typically the elementary morphisms are part of the data of the category. A coherence theorem states that, in order to be assured that all these equalities hold, it suffices to check a small number of identities.

An illustrative example: a monoidal category

Part of the data of a monoidal category is a chosen morphism ${\displaystyle \alpha _{A,B,C}}$, called the associator:

${\displaystyle \alpha _{A,B,C}\colon (A\otimes B)\otimes C\rightarrow A\otimes (B\otimes C)}$

for each triple of objects ${\displaystyle A,B,C}$ in the category. Using compositions of these ${\displaystyle \alpha _{A,B,C}}$, one can construct a morphism

${\displaystyle ((A_{N}\otimes A_{N-1})\otimes A_{N-2})\otimes \cdots \otimes A_{1})\rightarrow (A_{N}\otimes (A_{N-1}\otimes \cdots \otimes (A_{2}\otimes A_{1})).}$

Actually, there are many ways to construct such a morphism as a composition of various ${\displaystyle \alpha _{A,B,C}}$. One coherence condition that is typically imposed is that these compositions are all equal.

Typically one proves a coherence condition using a coherence theorem, which states that one only needs to check a few equalities of compositions in order to show that the rest also hold. In the above example, one only needs to check that, for all quadruples of objects ${\displaystyle A,B,C,D}$, the following diagram commutes.

Any pair of morphisms from ${\displaystyle ((\cdots (A_{N}\otimes A_{N-1})\otimes \cdots )\otimes A_{2})\otimes A_{1})}$ to ${\displaystyle (A_{N}\otimes (A_{N-1}\otimes (\cdots \otimes (A_{2}\otimes A_{1})\cdots ))}$ constructed as compositions of various ${\displaystyle \alpha _{A,B,C}}$ are equal.

Further examples

Two simple examples that illustrate the definition are as follows. Both are directly from the definition of a category.

Identity

Let f : A → B be a morphism of a category containing two objects A and B. Associated with these objects are the identity morphisms 1_A : A → A and 1_B : B → B. By composing these with f, we construct two morphisms:

f o 1_A : A → B, and

1_B o f : A → B.

Both are morphisms between the same objects as f. We have, accordingly, the following coherence statement:

f o 1_A = f  = 1_B o f.

Associativity of composition

Let f : A → B, g : B → C and h : C → D be morphisms of a category containing objects A, B, C and D. By repeated composition, we can construct a morphism from A to D in two ways:

(h o g) o f : A → D, and

h o (g o f) : A → D.

We have now the following coherence statement:

(h o g) o f = h o (g o f).

In these two particular examples, the coherence statements are theorems for the case of an abstract category, since they follow directly from the axioms; in fact, they are axioms. For the case of a concrete mathematical structure, they can be viewed as conditions, namely as requirements for the mathematical structure under consideration to be a concrete category, requirements that such a structure may meet or fail to meet.

References