Abstract

This thesis is intended to help develop the theory of coalgebras by, first, taking classic theorems in the theory of universal algebras and dualizing them and, second, developing an internal logic for categories of coalgebras. We begin with an introduction to the categorical approach to algebras and the dual notion of coalgebras. Following this, we discuss (co)algebras for a (co)monad and develop a theory of regular subcoalgebras which will be used in the internal logic. We also prove that categories of coalgebras are complete, under reasonably weak conditions, and simultaneously prove the well-known dual result for categories of algebras. We close the second chapter with a discussion of bisimulations in which we introduce a weaker notion of bisimulation than is current in the literature, but which is well-behaved and reduces to the standard definition under the assumption of choice. The third chapter is a detailed look at three theorem's of G. Birkho# [Bir35, Bir44], presenting categorical proofs of the theorems which generalize the classical results and which can be easily dualized to apply to categories of coalgebras. The theorems of interest are the variety theorem, the equational completeness theorem and the subdirect product representation theorem. The duals of each of these theorems is discussed in detail, and the dual notion of "coequation" is introduced and several examples given. In the final chapter, we show that first order logic can be interpreted in categories of coalgebras and introduce two modal operators to first order logic to allow reasoning about "endomorphism-invariant" coequations and bisimulations internally. We also develop a translation of terms and formulas into the internal language of the base category, which preserves and reflects truth. La...

Citations