Factorization system

In mathematics, it can be shown that every function can be written as the composite of a surjective function followed by an injective function. Factorization systems are a generalization of this situation in category theory.

A factorization system (E, M) for a category C consists of two classes of morphisms E and M of C such that :

(1) E and M both contain all isomorphisms of C and are closed under composition.

(2) Every morphism f of C can be factored as

$f=m\circ e$

for some morphisms $e\in E$ and $m\in M$.

(3) If $u$ and $v$ are two morphisms such that $vme=m'e'u$ for some morphisms $e,e'\in E$ and $m,m'\in M$, then there exists a unique morphism $w$ making the diagram

commute.

Orthogonality

Two morphisms $e$ and $m$ are said to be orthogonal, what we write $e\downarrow m$, if for every pair of morphisms $u$ and $v$ such that $vm=eu$ there is a unique morphism $w$ such that the diagram

commutes. This notion can be extended to define the orthogonals of sets of morphisms by

$H^{\uparrow }=\{e\quad |\quad \forall h\in H,e\downarrow h\}$ and $H^{\downarrow }=\{m\quad |\quad \forall h\in H,h\downarrow m\}$.

Since in a factorization system $E\cap M$ contains all the isomorphisms, the condition (3) of the definition is equivalent to

(3') $E\subset M^{\uparrow }$ and $M\subset E^{\downarrow }$.

Equivalent definition

The pair $(E,M)$ of classes of morphisms of C is a factorization system if and only if it satisfies the following conditions:

(1) Every morphism f of C can be factored as $f=m\circ e$ with $e\in E$ and $m\in M$.

(2) $E=M^{\uparrow }$ and $M=E^{\downarrow }$.

The condition (2) above can be shown to be equivalent to the condition

(2') $E\cap M$ is exactly the class of isomorphisms of C.

References

• Peter Freyd, Max Kelly (1972). "Categories of Continuous Functors I". Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra. 2.