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The Stacks project

Lemma 8.8.2. Let \mathcal{C} be a site. Let p : \mathcal{S} \to \mathcal{C} be a fibred category over \mathcal{C}. Let p' : \mathcal{S}' \to \mathcal{C} and G : \mathcal{S} \to \mathcal{S}' the stack and 1-morphism constructed in Lemma 8.8.1. This construction has the following universal property: Given a stack q : \mathcal{X} \to \mathcal{C} and a 1-morphism F : \mathcal{S} \to \mathcal{X} of fibred categories over \mathcal{C} there exists a 1-morphism H : \mathcal{S}' \to \mathcal{X} such that the diagram

\xymatrix{ \mathcal{S} \ar[rr]_ F \ar[rd]_ G & & \mathcal{X} \\ & \mathcal{S}' \ar[ru]_ H }

is 2-commutative.

Proof. Omitted. Hint: Suppose that x' \in \mathop{\mathrm{Ob}}\nolimits (\mathcal{S}'_ U). By the result of Lemma 8.8.1 there exists a covering \{ U_ i \to U\} _{i \in I} such that x'|_{U_ i} = G(x_ i) for some x_ i \in \mathop{\mathrm{Ob}}\nolimits (\mathcal{S}_{U_ i}). Moreover, there exist coverings \{ U_{ijk} \to U_ i \times _ U U_ j\} and isomorphisms \alpha _{ijk} : x_ i|_{U_{ijk}} \to x_ j|_{U_{ijk}} with G(\alpha _{ijk}) = \text{id}_{x'|_{U_{ijk}}}. Set y_ i = F(x_ i). Then you can check that

F(\alpha _{ijk}) : y_ i|_{U_{ijk}} \to y_ j|_{U_{ijk}}

agree on overlaps and therefore (as \mathcal{X} is a stack) define a morphism \beta _{ij} : y_ i|_{U_ i \times _ U U_ j} \to y_ j|_{U_ i \times _ U U_ j}. Next, you check that the \beta _{ij} define a descent datum. Since \mathcal{X} is a stack these descent data are effective and we find an object y of \mathcal{X}_ U agreeing with G(x_ i) over U_ i. The hint is to set H(x') = y. \square


Comments (2)

Comment #5954 by Dario Weißmann on

These universal properties for stacks are confusing to me, I would expect the next lemma (04W9) to be the universal property, here I am missing an "unique up to unique 2-isomorphism" for H or is that not how one should define universal properties in the stacky setting?

I think there are also instances of this when talking about 2-(co)cartesian diagrams. I will look for those if this is actually a mistake in the text and not in my understanding.

Comment #6138 by on

This whole section needs to be improved. I was using the terminology "universal property" loosely as we haven't defined that precisely anywhere in the Stacks project.

There are also:

  • 7 comment(s) on Section 8.8: Stackification of fibred categories

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