nLab
bialgebra

Bialgebra

Idea

A bialgebra (or bigebra) is both an algebra and a coalgebra, where the operations of either one are homomorphisms for the other. A bialgebra is one of the ingredients in the concept of Hopf algebra.

Definition

A bialgebra is a monoid in the category of coalgebras. Equivalently, it is a comonoid in the category of algebras. Equivalently, it is a monoid in the category of comonoids in Vect — or equivalently, a comonoid in the category of monoids in Vect.

More generally, a bimonoid in a monoidal category M is a monoid in the category of comonoids in M — or equivalently, a comonoid in the category of monoids in M. So, a bialgebra is a bimonoid in Vect.