Definition Indexed copresheaf [efr-001I]

Let p: \mathcal {D} \to \mathcal {C} be a functor. An indexed copresheaf on \mathcal {D} is a tuple (X \in \mathcal {C}, F: \mathcal {D} \to \mathsf {Set}, \alpha : F(-) \to \mathcal {C}(X,p(-))) consisting of a copresheaf, an object of \mathcal {C}, and a natural transformation \alpha as indicated. We say the indexed copresheaf is over X, and we will abuse the terminology by referring to F itself as an indexed copresheaf, leaving the transformation \alpha implicit (for example, "let F be an indexed copresheaf over X").

We denote the subset \alpha ^{-1}(\{f\}) \subseteq F(\bar {A}), for f: X \to p(\bar {A}) by F(\bar {A})_f.

A map of indexed copresheaves (X,F,\alpha ) \to (Y,G,\beta ) is a natural transformation F \to G and a map Y \to X \in \mathcal {C} so that the obvious square of natural transformations commutes. We denote the category of indexed copresheaves by \mathsf {IcoPSh}(\mathcal {C} / \mathcal {D}). Note that there is an obvious forgetful functor \mathsf {IcoPSh}(\mathcal {D} / \mathcal {C})^\mathrm {op} \to \mathcal {C}

Observe that for each object A \in \mathcal {D}, there is a corepresentable copresheaf (p(A), \mathcal {D}(A,-), p). Maps between these obey the Yoneda lemma, in the sense that they are in bijection with maps between the underlying objects in \mathcal {D}. This defines a fully faithful functor \mathcal {D} \to \mathsf {IcoPSh}(\mathcal {D} / \mathcal {C})^\mathrm {op} over \mathcal {C}.