open import Cat.Prelude

module Cat.Diagram.Terminal {o h} (C : Precategory o h) where

open import Cat.Reasoning C

Terminal objects🔗

An object $\top$ of a category $\mathcal{C}$ is said to be terminal if it admits a unique map from any other object:

is-terminal : Ob → Type _
is-terminal ob = ∀ x → is-contr (Hom x ob)

record Terminal : Type (o ⊔ h) where
  field
    top : Ob
    has⊤ : is-terminal top

We refer to the centre of contraction as !. Since it inhabits a contractible type, it is unique.

  ! : ∀ {x} → Hom x top
  ! = has⊤ _ .centre

  !-unique : ∀ {x} (h : Hom x top) → ! ≡ h
  !-unique = has⊤ _ .paths

  !-unique₂ : ∀ {x} (f g : Hom x top) → f ≡ g
  !-unique₂ = is-contr→is-prop (has⊤ _)

open Terminal

Uniqueness🔗

If a category has two terminal objects $t_1$ and $t_2$, then there is a unique isomorphism $t_1 \cong t_2$. We first establish the isomorphism: Since $t_1$ (resp. $t_2$) is terminal, there is a unique map $!_1 : t_1 \to t_2$ (resp. $!_2 : t_2 \to t_1$). To show these maps are inverses, we must show that $!_1 \circ !_2$ is $\mathrm{id}_{}$; But these morphisms inhabit a contractible space, namely the space of maps into $t_2$, so they are equal.

!-invertible : (t1 t2 : Terminal) → is-invertible (! t1 {top t2})
!-invertible t1 t2 = make-invertible (! t2) (!-unique₂ t1 _ _) (!-unique₂ t2 _ _)

⊤-unique : (t1 t2 : Terminal) → top t1 ≅ top t2
⊤-unique t1 t2 = invertible→iso (! t2) (!-invertible t2 t1)

Hence, if $C$ is additionally a category, it has a propositional space of terminal objects:

⊤-contractible : is-category C → is-prop Terminal
⊤-contractible ccat x1 x2 i .top =
  ccat .to-path (⊤-unique x1 x2) i

⊤-contractible ccat x1 x2 i .has⊤ ob =
  is-prop→pathp
    (λ i → is-contr-is-prop {A = Hom _
      (ccat .to-path (⊤-unique x1 x2) i)})
    (x1 .has⊤ ob) (x2 .has⊤ ob) i

is-terminal-iso : ∀ {A B} → A ≅ B → is-terminal A → is-terminal B
is-terminal-iso isom term x = contr (isom .to ∘ term x .centre) λ h →
  isom .to ∘ term x .centre ≡⟨ ap (isom .to ∘_) (term x .paths _) ⟩≡
  isom .to ∘ isom .from ∘ h ≡⟨ cancell (isom .invl) ⟩≡
  h                         ∎