Conceptual Differential Calculus. I: First Order Local Linear Algebra

TL;DR

This paper presents a rigorous, algebraic, and categorical formulation of first-order differential calculus through the concept of local linear maps as double categories, emphasizing a purely algebraic and chart-independent approach.

Contribution

It introduces a novel categorical framework for first-order differential calculus using double categories to formalize local linear maps in an algebraic, chart-independent manner.

Findings

Defines local linear maps as morphisms in a double category

Provides a purely algebraic, chart-independent formulation of first-order calculus

Lays groundwork for higher-order differential theories using multiple categories

Abstract

We give a rigorous formulation of the intuitive idea that a differentiable map should be thesame thing as a locally, or infinitesimally, linear map: just as a linear map respects the operations of addition and multiplication by scalars ina vector space or module, a locally linear map is defined to be a map respecting two canonical operationsliving "over" its domain of definition.These two operations are composition laws of a canonical groupoid and of a scaled action category, respectively,fitting together into a canonical double category. Local linear algebra (of first order) is the study of such double categories and of their morphisms; it is a purely algebraic and conceptual (i.e., categorical and chart-independent) version of first order differential calculus. In subsequent work, the higher order theory (using higher multiple categories) will be investigated.