module Cat.Univalent.Rezk whereThe Rezk completion🔗
In the same way that we can freely complete a proset into a poset, it is possible to, in a universal way, replace any precategory by a category , such that there is a weak equivalence (a fully faithful, essentially surjective functor) , such that any map from to a univalent category factors uniquely through .
The construction is essentially piecing together a handful of pre-existing results: The univalence principle for -types implies that Sets is a univalent category, and functor categories with univalent codomain are univalent; The Yoneda lemma implies that any precategory admits a full inclusion into , and full subcategories of univalent categories are univalent — so, like Grothendieck cracking the nut, the sea of theory has risen to the point where our result is trivial:
module Rezk-large (A : Precategory o h) where
  Rezk-completion : Precategory (o ⊔ lsuc h) (o ⊔ h)
  Rezk-completion = Full-inclusion→Full-subcat {F = よ A} (よ-is-fully-faithful A)
  Rezk-completion-is-category : is-category Rezk-completion
  Rezk-completion-is-category =
    Restrict-is-category _ (λ _ → squash)
      (Functor-is-category Sets-is-category)
  Complete : Functor A Rezk-completion
  Complete = Ff-domain→Full-subcat {F = よ A} (よ-is-fully-faithful A)
  Complete-is-ff : is-fully-faithful Complete
  Complete-is-ff = is-fully-faithful-domain→Full-subcat
      {F = よ _} (よ-is-fully-faithful _)
  Complete-is-eso : is-eso Complete
  Complete-is-eso = is-eso-domain→Full-subcat {F = よ _} (よ-is-fully-faithful _)However, this construction is a bit disappointing, because we’ve had to pass to a larger universe than the one we started with. If originally we had with objects living in a universe and homs in , we now have with objects living in .
It’s unavoidable that the objects in will live in an universe satisfying , since we want their identity type to be equivalent to something living in , but going up a level is unfortunate. However, it’s also avoidable!
Since is a category, isomorphism is an identity system on its objects, which lives at the level of its morphisms — — rather than of its objects, . Therefore, using the construction of small images, we may take to be a -type!
module _ (A : Precategory o h) where
  private
    PSh[A] = PSh h A
    module PSh[A] = Precategory PSh[A]
    PSh[A]-is-cat : is-category PSh[A]
    PSh[A]-is-cat = Functor-is-category Sets-is-category
    module よim = Replacement PSh[A]-is-cat (よ₀ A)
  Rezk-completion : Precategory (o ⊔ h) (o ⊔ h)
  Rezk-completion .Ob          = よim.Image
  Rezk-completion .Hom x y     = よim.embed x => よim.embed y
  Rezk-completion .Hom-set _ _ = PSh[A].Hom-set _ _
  Rezk-completion .id    = PSh[A].id
  Rezk-completion ._∘_   = PSh[A]._∘_
  Rezk-completion .idr   = PSh[A].idr
  Rezk-completion .idl   = PSh[A].idl
  Rezk-completion .assoc = PSh[A].assocOur resized Rezk completion factors the Yoneda embedding as a functor
where the first functor is a weak equivalence, and the second functor is fully faithful. Let’s first define the functors:
  complete : Functor A Rezk-completion
  complete .F₀   = よim.inc
  complete .F₁   = よ A .F₁
  complete .F-id = よ A .F-id
  complete .F-∘  = よ A .F-∘
  Rezk↪PSh : Functor Rezk-completion (PSh h A)
  Rezk↪PSh .F₀      = よim.embed
  Rezk↪PSh .F₁ f    = f
  Rezk↪PSh .F-id    = refl
  Rezk↪PSh .F-∘ _ _ = reflFrom the existence of the second functor, we can piece together pre-existing lemmas about the image and about identity systems in general to show that this resized Rezk completion is also a category: We can pull back the identity system on to one on , since we know of a (type-theoretic) embedding between their types of objects.
That gives us an identity system which is slightly off, that of “-isomorphisms on the image of the functor ”, but since we know that this functor is fully faithful, that’s equivalent to what we want.
  private module Rezk↪PSh = Ffr Rezk↪PSh id-equiv
  abstract
    Rezk-completion-is-category : is-category Rezk-completion
    Rezk-completion-is-category =
      transfer-identity-system
        (pullback-identity-system
          (Functor-is-category Sets-is-category)
          (よim.embed , よim.embed-is-embedding))
        (λ x y → Rezk↪PSh.iso-equiv e⁻¹)
        λ x → Cr.≅-pathp Rezk-completion refl refl reflIt remains to show that the functor is a weak equivalence. It’s fully faithful because the Yoneda embedding is, and it’s essentially surjective because it’s literally surjective-on-objects.
  complete-is-ff : is-fully-faithful complete
  complete-is-ff = よ-is-fully-faithful A
  complete-is-eso : is-eso complete
  complete-is-eso x = do
    t ← よim.inc-is-surjective x
    pure (t .fst , path→iso (t .snd))