[Math] Catagorical Definition of Coproduct and Abelian Groups

category-theory

I have the definition of a coproduct which is as follows:

A coproduct of $\{A_\alpha\}$ in $\mathcal{G}$, where $\mathcal{G}$ is a category and $\{A_\alpha\}$ a collection of objects, is an object $Q$ of $\mathcal{G}$ with $\pi_\alpha:A_\alpha\rightarrow Q$ s.t. $\forall{C}\in obj\{\mathcal{G}\}$ with morphisms $\phi_\alpha:A_\alpha\rightarrow C$ s.t $\exists! f:Q\rightarrow C$ s.t. $\phi_\alpha=f\circ\pi_\alpha$

Now I have been given the example with if our objects are abelian groups and morphisms are homomorphisms then this defines the direct sum. I was wondering how we go about proving this? I can kind of see why it does but how do we show for example that nothing else but the direct sum satisfies this definition?

Thanks for any help (sorry if my question is stupid or muddled)

Best Answer

Let's prove that the coproduct is unique in a category. Assume that there are two, let's say $Q$ and $Q'$ for the collection $\{A_a\}$. Let $\pi_a:A_a\to Q$ and $\pi':A_a\to Q'$ be the morphisms you talked about. Then by the universal property you mentioned, we have that there are morphisms $\phi:Q'\to Q$ and $\psi:Q\to Q'$ such that $\pi_a=\phi\circ\pi_a'$ and $\pi_a'=\psi\circ\pi_a$. Now these morphisms $\phi$ and $\psi$ are unique. If we now take $\phi\circ\psi:Q\to Q$, this also satisfies $\phi\circ\psi\circ\pi_a=\phi\circ\pi_a'=\pi_a$, the same as the identity. Since the map of the universal property is unique, we have that $\phi\circ\psi=\mbox{id}$. The same argument shows that $\psi\circ\phi=\mbox{id}$.

So the coproduct is unique. Therefore, if you can show that the direct sum of abelian groups satisfies what you are looking for (it seems you already did this?), then it must be "the" coproduct (up to isomorphism).