English

Continuity is an adjoint functor

Category Theory 2014-08-13 v1

Abstract

For topological spaces XX and YY, a (not necessarily continuous) function f:XYf:X \rightarrow Y naturally induces a functor from the category of closed subsets of XX (with morphisms given by inclusions) to the category of closed subsets of YY. The function ff also naturally induces a functor from the category of closed subsets of YY to the category of closed subsets of XX. Our aim in this expository note is to show that the function ff is continuous if and only if the first of the above two functors is a left adjoint to the second. We thereby obtain elementary examples of adjoint pairs (apparently) not part of the standard introductory treatments of this subject.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1408.2596,
  title  = {Continuity is an adjoint functor},
  author = {Edward S. Letzter},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.2596},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

To appear in the American Mathematical Monthly

R2 v1 2026-06-22T05:25:58.316Z