Note on commutativity in double semigroups and two-fold monoidal categories
Abstract
A concrete computation -- twelve slidings with sixteen tiles -- reveals that certain commutativity phenomena occur in every double semigroup. This can be seen as a sort of Eckmann-Hilton argument, but it does not use units. The result implies in particular that all cancellative double semigroups and all inverse double semigroups are commutative. Stepping up one dimension, the result is used to prove that all strictly associative two-fold monoidal categories (with weak units) are degenerate symmetric. In particular, strictly associative one-object, one-arrow 3-groupoids (with weak units) cannot realise all simply-connected homotopy 3-types.
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/0608452,
title = {Note on commutativity in double semigroups and two-fold monoidal categories},
author = {Joachim Kock},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0608452},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
10 pages, LaTeX, uses Paul Taylor's diagrams package. An animated graphical version of the computation mentioned in the abstract is available from http://mat.uab.cat/~kock/cat/commutativity.html