Adjoint of free functor from FinSet to category of finite dimensional vector spaces

category-theorylinear algebra

Let FinSet be the category of finite sets with mathematical functions. Let FinVec be the category of finite-dimensional vector spaces. Then there is the free functor FinSet $\to$ FinVec that maps the set $S$ to the vector space of linear combinations of elements of $S$.

Does this functor have a left adjoint? If so, what is it?

Best Answer

As people are asking in comments, we need to know whether you want the free functor $F : \mathsf{FinSet} \to \mathsf{FinVec}$ to have a left or a right adjoint. The answer is a bit subtle and depends on your underlying field.


First, why might it not have a right adjoint? Any functor that calls itself "free" should be left adjoint to a forgetful functor... The issue is that the forgetful functor $U$ on $\text{FinVect}$ takes values in infinite sets if your field $k$ is infinite.

  • If $k$ is finite, then the underlying set functor $U$ will work, with $F \dashv U$ as usual (do you see why?).

  • If $k$ is infinite, then $F$ is the restriction of the free functor on the whole of $\mathsf{Set}$ to the (full) subcategory $\mathsf{FinSet}$. Then if $F$ did have a right adjoint, $U'$, we would have (if $\iota : \mathsf{FinSet} \hookrightarrow \mathsf{Set}$ is the inclusion):

$$ \begin{aligned} \text{Hom}_\mathsf{Set}(\iota X, \iota U' V) &\cong \text{Hom}_\mathsf{FinSet}(X, U' V) \\ &\cong \text{Hom}_\mathsf{FinVect}(FX, V) \\ &\cong \text{Hom}_\mathsf{Set}(\iota X, UV) \end{aligned} $$

So $\iota U'$ would have to be $U$ (the usual forgetful functor to $\mathsf{Set}$). Notice in the case of $k$ finite this is OK, since the underlying set of a finite dimensional vector space over a finite field does factor through $\mathsf{FinSet}$. However if $k$ is infinite, then $UV$ is not of the form $\iota Z$ for any finite set $Z$, so $U'$ cannot exist.


Second, why won't $F$ have a left adjoint?

This is much less subtle. If $F$ has a left adjoint, then it preserves limits. In particular, it should preserve the terminal object. But $F1 = k^1$ is not terminal in $\mathsf{FinVect}$ (do you see why?).


I hope this helps ^_^