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Add extremal monomorphisms and extremal epimorphisms - #320

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extremal-monos
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Add extremal monomorphisms and extremal epimorphisms#320
ScriptRaccoon wants to merge 7 commits into
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extremal-monos

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@ScriptRaccoon ScriptRaccoon commented Aug 4, 2026

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This PR fills another gap from #267 by adding extremal monomorphisms and extremal epimorphisms.

Some basic results are added as well (e.g. that every strong mono is extremal, and that the converse holds when pushouts exist).

The "forked commutative square"

Since every consistent morphism combination (or its dual) should have at least one witness, this PR also adds an example of a non-strong extremal monomorphism. Apparently, such examples are not so easy to find "in nature", which is why this PR also adds a new category to the database: the "forked commutative square", which is generated by the graph


and the evident relations. Here, $m$ is an extremal monomorphism, but not a strong one. All properties except one have been decided for this category: it is not clear whether cosifted limits exist. (Of course, this can be determined, but I would like to skip this for the moment.) However, all properties of $m$ have been decided.

Special morphism rules

Moreover, three special morphism rules have been added:

  • in a gaunt category, isomorphisms are the same as identities (by definition)
  • in a regular-subobject-trivial category, regular monos are the same as isomorphisms (by definition)
  • in a regular-quotient-trivial category, regular epis are the same as isomorphisms (by definition)

This made it easier to classify the special morphisms in the forked commutative square, but it also means that several isomorphism assignments in examples of gaunt categories could be removed.

Graphical overview

This PR also adds a content page that includes a graphical overview of the relationships between the various types of epimorphisms and monomorphisms.



Maybe this is better suitable for the nLab, and I tried to add this to the page on epimorphisms, but the nLab keeps throwing errors at me. So let's keep it here for now. Of course, it should be adjusted as soon we add more types of epimorphisms or monomorphisms (such as descent morphisms).

@ScriptRaccoon
ScriptRaccoon force-pushed the extremal-monos branch 2 times, most recently from 96b8750 to 95e4ee5 Compare August 5, 2026 10:55
@ScriptRaccoon
ScriptRaccoon force-pushed the extremal-monos branch 3 times, most recently from 4d16cc5 to b70e35c Compare August 6, 2026 17:06
- notation for morphisms is $m$
- notation for epimorphisms is $p$
- add more related properties
- fix some grammar
- add small remarks in the definitions
- remove redundant implications for morphisms
@ScriptRaccoon

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@dschepler I think I am finished here. Can you please review this PR? (Probably you are still busy with the PR on total categories, which means that, of course, this here can wait.)

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