11.6.2 Full Functors

Let $\mathcal{C}$ and $\mathcal{D}$ be categories.

A functor $F\colon \mathcal{C}\to \mathcal{D}$ is full if, for each $A,B\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathcal{C}\webright )$, the action on morphisms

\[ F_{A,B} \colon \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (A,B\webright ) \to \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{D}}\webleft (F_{A},F_{B}\webright ) \]

of $F$ at $\webleft (A,B\webright )$ is surjective.

Let $F\colon \mathcal{C}\to \mathcal{D}$ and $G\colon \mathcal{D}\to \mathcal{E}$ be functors.

  1. 1.

    Interaction With Composition. If $F$ and $G$ are full, then so is $G\circ F$.

  2. 2.

    Interaction With Postcomposition I. If $F$ is full, then the postcomposition functor

    \[ F_{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{X},\mathcal{C}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{X},\mathcal{D}\webright ) \]

    can fail to be full.

  3. 3.

    Interaction With Postcomposition II. If, for each $\mathcal{X}\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathsf{Cats}\webright )$, the postcomposition functor

    \[ F_{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{X},\mathcal{C}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{X},\mathcal{D}\webright ) \]

    is full, then $F$ is also full.

  4. 4.

    Interaction With Precomposition I. If $F$ is full, then the precomposition functor

    \[ F^{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{C},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \]

    can fail to be full.

  5. 5.

    Interaction With Precomposition II. If, for each $\mathcal{X}\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathsf{Cats}\webright )$, the precomposition functor

    \[ F^{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{C},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \]

    is full, then $F$ can fail to be full.

  6. 6.

    Interaction With Precomposition III. If $F$ is essentially surjective and full, then the precomposition functor

    \[ F^{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{C},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \]

    is full (and also faithful by Item 4 of Proposition 11.6.1.1.2).

  7. 7.

    Interaction With Precomposition IV. The following conditions are equivalent:

    1. (a)

      For each $\mathcal{X}\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathsf{Cats}\webright )$, the precomposition functor

      \[ F^{*} \colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{C},\mathcal{X}\webright ) \]

      is full.

    2. (b)

      The functor $F\colon \mathcal{C}\to \mathcal{D}$ is a corepresentably full morphism in $\mathsf{Cats}_{\mathsf{2}}$ in the sense of Chapter 13: Types of Morphisms in Bicategories, Definition 13.2.1.1.1.

    3. (c)

      The components

      \[ \eta _{G}\colon G\Longrightarrow \operatorname {\mathrm{Ran}}_{F}\webleft (G\circ F\webright ) \]

      of the unit

      \[ \eta \colon \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{\mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright )}\Longrightarrow \operatorname {\mathrm{Ran}}_{F}\circ F^{*} \]

      of the adjunction $F^{*}\dashv \operatorname {\mathrm{Ran}}_{F}$ are all retractions/split epimorphisms.

    4. (d)

      The components

      \[ \epsilon _{G}\colon \operatorname {\mathrm{Lan}}_{F}\webleft (G\circ F\webright )\Longrightarrow G \]

      of the counit

      \[ \epsilon \colon \operatorname {\mathrm{Lan}}_{F}\circ F^{*}\Longrightarrow \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{\mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathcal{D},\mathcal{X}\webright )} \]

      of the adjunction $\operatorname {\mathrm{Lan}}_{F}\dashv F^{*}$ are all sections/split monomorphisms.

    5. (e)

      For each $B\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathcal{D}\webright )$, there exist:

      • An object $A_{B}$ of $\mathcal{C}$;

      • A morphism $s_{B}\colon B\to F\webleft (A_{B}\webright )$ of $\mathcal{D}$;

      • A morphism $r_{B}\colon F\webleft (A_{B}\webright )\to B$ of $\mathcal{D}$;

      satisfying the following condition:

      • (★)
      • For each $A\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathcal{C}\webright )$ and each pair of morphisms
        \begin{align*} r & \colon F\webleft (A\webright ) \to B,\\ s & \colon B \to F\webleft (A\webright ) \end{align*}
        of $\mathcal{D}$, we have
        \[ \webleft [\webleft (A_{B},s_{B},r_{B}\webright )\webright ]=\webleft [\webleft (A,s,r\circ s_{B}\circ r_{B}\webright )\webright ] \]
        in $\int ^{A\in \mathcal{C}}h^{B'}_{F_{A}}\times h^{F_{A}}_{B}$.

Item 1: Interaction With Composition
Since the map

\[ \webleft (G\circ F\webright )_{A,B} \colon \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (A,B\webright ) \to \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{D}}\webleft (G_{F_{A}},G_{F_{B}}\webright ), \]

defined as the composition

\[ \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (A,B\webright )\xrightarrow {F_{A,B}}\operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{D}}\webleft (F_{A},F_{B}\webright )\xrightarrow {G_{F\webleft (A\webright ),F\webleft (B\webright )}}\operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{D}}\webleft (G_{F_{A}},G_{F_{B}}\webright ), \]

is a composition of surjective functions, it follows from Unresolved reference that it is also surjective. Therefore $G\circ F$ is full.

Item 2: Interaction With Postcomposition I
We follow the proof (completely formalised in cubical Agda!) given by Naïm Camille Favier in [[Unknown Reference: favier:postcompose-not-full]]. Let $\mathcal{C}$ be the category where:

  • Objects. We have $\operatorname {\mathrm{Obj}}\webleft (\mathcal{C}\webright )=\left\{ A,B\right\} $.

  • Morphisms. We have

    \begin{align*} \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (A,A\webright ) & = \left\{ e_{A},\operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{A}\right\} ,\\ \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (B,B\webright ) & = \left\{ e_{B},\operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{B}\right\} ,\\ \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (A,B\webright ) & = \left\{ f,g\right\} ,\\ \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathcal{C}}\webleft (B,A\webright ) & = \text{Ø}. \end{align*}
  • Composition. The nontrivial compositions in $\mathcal{C}$ are the following:

    \[ \begin{aligned} e_{A}\circ e_{A} & = \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{A},\\ e_{B}\circ e_{B} & = \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{B}, \end{aligned} \quad \begin{aligned} f\circ e_{A} & = g,\\ g\circ e_{A} & = f, \end{aligned} \quad \begin{aligned} e_{B}\circ f & = f,\\ e_{B}\circ g & = g. \end{aligned} \]

We may picture $\mathcal{C}$ as follows:

Next, let $\mathcal{D}$ be the walking arrow category $\mathbb {1}$ of Definition 11.2.5.1.1 and let $F\colon \mathcal{C}\to \mathbb {1}$ be the functor given on objects by

\begin{align*} F\webleft (A\webright ) & = 0,\\ F\webleft (B\webright ) & = 1 \end{align*}

and on non-identity morphisms by

\[ \begin{aligned} F\webleft (f\webright ) & = f_{01},\\ F\webleft (g\webright ) & = f_{01}, \end{aligned} \quad \begin{aligned} F\webleft (e_{A}\webright ) & = \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{0},\\ F\webleft (e_{B}\webright ) & = \operatorname {\mathrm{id}}_{1}. \end{aligned} \]

Finally, let $\mathcal{X}=\mathsf{B}\mathbb {Z}_{/2}$ be the walking involution and let $\iota _{A},\iota _{B}\colon \mathsf{B}\mathbb {Z}_{/2}\rightrightarrows \mathcal{C}$ be the inclusion functors from $\mathsf{B}\mathbb {Z}_{/2}$ to $\mathcal{C}$ with

\begin{align*} \iota _{A}\webleft (\bullet \webright ) & = A,\\ \iota _{B}\webleft (\bullet \webright ) & = B. \end{align*}

Since every morphism in $\mathbb {1}$ has a preimage in $\mathcal{C}$ by $F$, the functor $F$ is full. Now, for $F_{*}$ to be full, the map

would need to be surjective. However, as we will show next, we have

\begin{gather*} \operatorname {\mathrm{Nat}}\webleft (\iota _{A},\iota _{B}\webright ) = \text{Ø},\\ \operatorname {\mathrm{Nat}}\webleft (F\circ \iota _{A},F\circ \iota _{B}\webright ) \cong \mathrm{pt}, \end{gather*}

so this is impossible:

  • Proof of $\operatorname {\mathrm{Nat}}\webleft (\iota _{A},\iota _{B}\webright )=\text{Ø}$: A natural transformation $\alpha \colon \iota _{A}\Rightarrow \iota _{B}$ consists of a morphism

    \[ \alpha \colon \underbrace{\iota _{A}\webleft (\bullet \webright )}_{=A}\to \underbrace{\iota _{B}\webleft (\bullet \webright )}_{=B} \]

    in $\mathcal{C}$ making the diagram

    commute for each $e\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathsf{B}\mathbb {Z}_{/2}}\webleft (\bullet ,\bullet \webright )\cong \mathbb {Z}_{/2}$. We have two cases:

    1. (a)

      If $\alpha =f$, the naturality diagram for the unique nonidentity element of $\mathbb {Z}_{/2}$ is given by

      However, $e_{B}\circ f=f$ and $f\circ e_{A}=g$, so this diagram does not commute.

    2. (b)

      If $\alpha =g$, the naturality diagram for the unique nonidentity element of $\mathbb {Z}_{/2}$ is given by

      However, $e_{B}\circ g=g$ and $g\circ e_{A}=f$, so this diagram does not commute.

    As a result, there are no natural transformations from $\iota _{A}$ to $\iota _{B}$.

  • Proof of $\operatorname {\mathrm{Nat}}\webleft (F\circ \iota _{A},F\circ \iota _{B}\webright )\cong \mathrm{pt}$: A natural transformation

    \[ \beta \colon F\circ \iota _{A}\Rightarrow F\circ \iota _{B} \]

    consists of a morphism

    \[ \beta \colon \underbrace{\webleft [F\circ \iota _{A}\webright ]\webleft (\bullet \webright )}_{=0}\to \underbrace{\webleft [F\circ \iota _{B}\webright ]\webleft (\bullet \webright )}_{=1} \]

    in $\mathbb {1}$ making the diagram

    commute for each $e\in \operatorname {\mathrm{Hom}}_{\mathsf{B}\mathbb {Z}_{/2}}\webleft (\bullet ,\bullet \webright )\cong \mathbb {Z}_{/2}$. Since the only morphism from $0$ to $1$ in $\mathbb {1}$ is $f_{01}$, we must have $\beta =f_{01}$ if such a transformation were to exist, and in fact it indeed does, as in this case the naturality diagram above becomes
    for each $e\in \mathbb {Z}_{/2}$, and this diagram indeed commutes, making $\beta $ into a natural transformation.

This finishes the proof.

Item 3: Interaction With Postcomposition II
Taking $\mathcal{X}=\mathsf{pt}$, it follows by assumption that the functor

\[ F_{*}\colon \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathsf{pt},\mathcal{C}\webright )\to \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathsf{pt},\mathcal{D}\webright ) \]

is full. However, by Item 5 of Proposition 11.10.1.1.2, we have isomorphisms of categories

\begin{align*} \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathsf{pt},\mathcal{C}\webright ) & \cong \mathcal{C},\\ \mathsf{Fun}\webleft (\mathsf{pt},\mathcal{D}\webright ) & \cong \mathcal{D} \end{align*}

and the diagram

commutes. It then follows from Item 1 that $F$ is full.

Item 4: Interaction With Precomposition I
Omitted.

Item 5: Interaction With Precomposition II
See p. 47 of [BS, Lectures on $n$-Categories and Cohomology].

Item 6: Interaction With Precomposition III
Omitted, but see for a formalised proof.

Item 7: Interaction With Precomposition IV
We claim Item 7a, Item 7b, Item 7c, Item 7d, and Item 7e are equivalent:

This finishes the proof.


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