Ezra Schoen ; Jade Master ; Clemens Kupke - Relative fixed points of functors

fi:12374 - Fundamenta Informaticae, August 28, 2025, Volume 194, Issue 2: Fixed Points in Computer Science 2023 - https://doi.org/10.46298/fi.12374
Relative fixed points of functorsArticle

Authors: Ezra Schoen ; Jade Master ; Clemens Kupke

We show how the relatively initial or relatively terminal fixed points for a well-behaved functor $F$ form a pair of adjoint functors between $F$-coalgebras and $F$-algebras. We use the language of locally presentable categories to find sufficient conditions for existence of this adjunction. We show that relative fixed points may be characterized as (co)equalizers of the free (co)monad on $F$. In particular, when $F$ is a polynomial functor on $\mathsf{Set}$ the relative fixed points are a quotient or subset of the free term algebra or the cofree term coalgebra. We give examples of the relative fixed points for polynomial functors and an example which is the Sierpinski carpet. Lastly, we prove a general preservation result for relative fixed points.

26 pages


Volume: Volume 194, Issue 2: Fixed Points in Computer Science 2023
Published on: August 28, 2025
Accepted on: March 26, 2025
Submitted on: October 6, 2023
Keywords: Category Theory, Logic in Computer Science

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