Eilenberg Steenrod axioms of homology not a natural transformation

algebraic-topologycategory-theoryfunctors

According to wikipedia, an ordinary homology theory (in the sense of Eilenberg – Steenrod) is a sequence of functors $(h_n)_{n \in \mathbb{Z}}: \text{Pairs} \rightarrow \text{Ab}$ where $\text{Pairs}$ is the category where objects are pairs of topogical spaces $(X,A)$ s.t. $A \subseteq X$ and $\text{Ab}$ is the category of abelian groups, together with a natural transformation $\partial: h_n (X,A) \rightarrow h_{n-1}(A,\emptyset)$.

In what sense is $\partial$ a natural transformation?

(Also according to wikipedia) a natural transformation $\alpha$ between two functors $F,G: \mathcal{C} \rightarrow \mathcal{D}$, where $\mathcal{C}$ and $\mathcal{D}$ are categories is a family of morphisms in $\mathcal{D}$ indexed by the objects in $\mathcal{C}$ s.t. $\alpha_c: F(c) \rightarrow G(c)$ where $c$ is an object in $\mathcal{C}$.

However, in the definition of axiomatic homology, we consider $\alpha: F(c) \rightarrow G(c')$ for $c \neq c'$. Why is that?

Best Answer

As Tyrone remarked in his comment, we have the "restriction functor" $R : \operatorname{Pairs} \to \operatorname{Pairs}$ given by $R(X,A) = (A,\emptyset)$ and $R(f) )= f\mid_A : (A,\emptyset) \to (B,\emptyset)$ for $f : (X,A) \to (Y,B)$. Then $$\partial_n : h_n \to h_{n-1} \circ R$$ is a natural transformation between the functors $h_n : \operatorname{Pairs} \to \operatorname{Ab}$ and $h_{n-1} \circ R : \operatorname{Pairs} \to \operatorname{Ab}$.