nLab
monoidal structure map

For F:CD a functor between categories that are equipped with the structure of monoidal categories (C,), (D,), a lax monoidal structure map is a natural transformation

x,y:F(x)F(y)F(xy)\nabla_{x,y}\colon F(x) \otimes F(y) \to F(x \otimes y)

that equips F with the structure of a lax monoidal functor.

Similarly, an oplax monoidal structure map, or lax comonoidal structure map is a natural transformation

Δ x,y:F(xy)F(x)F(y)\Delta_{x,y}\colon F(x \otimes y) \to F(x) \otimes F(y)

that equips F with the structure of an oplax monoidal functor.

An (op)lax (co)monoidal structure map is sometimes called an (op)lax (co)monoidal transformation; however, this is not a laxification (a directed weakening) of any strong notion of monoidal natural transformation (which has nothing to laxify).

Revised on September 7, 2011 16:34:06 by Toby Bartels (75.88.82.16)