We prove that the opposite of the category of coalgebras for the Vietoris endofunctor on the category of compact Hausdorff spaces is monadic over $\mathsf {Set}$. We deliver an analogous result for the upper, lower, and convex Vietoris endofunctors acting on the category of stably compact spaces. We provide axiomatizations of the associated (infinitary) varieties. This can be seen as a version of Jónsson–Tarski duality for modal algebras beyond the zero-dimensional setting.

“Co-Frobenius” coalgebras were introduced as dualizations of Frobenius algebras. We previously showed that they admit left-right symmetric characterizations analogous to those of Frobenius algebras. We consider the more general quasi-co-Frobenius $\left( \text{QcF} \right)$ coalgebras. The first main result in this paper is that these also admit symmetric characterizations: a coalgebra is $\text{QcF}$ if it is weakly isomorphic to its (left, or right) rational dual $\text{Rat}\left( {{C}^{*}} \right)$ in the sense that certain coproduct or product powers of these objects are isomorphic. Fundamental results of Hopf algebras, such as the equivalent characterizations of Hopf algebras with nonzero integrals as left (or right) co-Frobenius, $\text{QcF}$, semiperfect or with nonzero rational dual, as well as the uniqueness of integrals and a short proof of the bijectivity of the antipode for such Hopf algebras all follow as a consequence of these results. This gives a purely representation theoretic approach to many of the basic fundamental results in the theory of Hopf algebras. Furthermore, we introduce a general concept of Frobenius algebra, which makes sense for infinite dimensional and for topological algebras, and specializes to the classical notion in the finite case. This will be a topological algebra $A$ that is isomorphic to its complete topological dual ${{A}^{\vee }}$. We show that $A$ is a (quasi)Frobenius algebra if and only if $A$ is the dual ${{C}^{*}}$ of a (quasi)co-Frobenius coalgebra $C$. We give many examples of co-Frobenius coalgebras and Hopf algebras connected to category theory, homological algebra and the newer $q$-homological algebra, topology or graph theory, showing the importance of the concept.

Let K be a field. We study a class of left C-comodules over a basic left Euler coalgebra C by means of the Euler ℤ-bilinear form associated to C, the Euler characteristic χC(M,N) of left C-comodules M,N, and the defect ∂C(M,N) ∊ ℤ associated to any computable Euler pair (M,N) of left C-comodules. We show that (lgthM, lgthN) = χC(M,N) + ∂C(M,N), for any computable Euler pair (M,N) of comodules over a left Euler coalgebra C. One of the main results of the paper asserts that the defect ∂C(M,N) is zero and (lgthM,lgthN) = χC(M,N), if the comodules M,N are finite-dimensional.

For finitary set functors preserving inverse images, recursive coalgebras A of Paul Taylor are proved to be precisely those for which the system described by A always halts in finitely many steps.

Algebraic systems of equations define functions using recursion where parameter passing is permitted. This generalizes the notion of a rational system of equations where parameter passing is prohibited. It has been known for some time that algebraic systems in Greibach Normal Form have unique solutions. This paper presents a categorical approach to algebraic systems of equations which generalizes the traditional approach in two ways i) we define algebraic equations for locally finitely presentable categories rather than just Set; and ii) we define algebraic equations to allow right-hand sides which need not consist of finite terms. We show these generalized algebraic systems of equations have unique solutions by replacing the traditional metric-theoretic arguments with coalgebraic arguments.

This paper gives a semantical underpinning for a many-sorted modal logic associated with certain dynamical systems, like transition systems, automata or classes in object-oriented languages. These systems will be described as coalgebras of so-called polynomial functors, built up from constants and identities, using products, coproducts and powersets. The semantical account involves Boolean algebras with operators indexed by polynomial functors, called MBAOs, for Many-sorted Boolean Algebras with Operators, combining standard (categorical) models of modal logic and of many-sorted predicate logic. In this setting we will see Lindenbaum MBAO models as initial objects, and canonical coalgebraic models of maximally consistent sets of formulas as final objects. They will be used to (re)prove completeness results, and Hennessey-Milner style characterisation results for the modal logic, first established by Rößiger.

Coalgebras for endofunctors ${\mathcal C}\rightarrow{\mathcal C}$ can be used to model classes of object-oriented languages. However, binary methods do not fit directly into this approach. This paper proposes an extension of the coalgebraic framework, namely the use of extended polynomial functors${\mathcal C}^{op} \times {\mathcal C}\rightarrow{\mathcal C}$. This extension allows the incorporation of binary methods into coalgebraic class specifications. The paper also discusses how to define bisimulation and invariants for coalgebras of extended polynomial functors and proves many standard results.

An illustration of coinduction in terms of a notion of weak bisimilarity is presented. First, an operational semantics $\mbox{${\cal O}$}$ for while programs is defined in terms of a final automaton. It identifies any two programs that are weakly bisimilar, and induces in a canonical manner a compositional model $\mbox{${\cal D}$}$. Next $\mbox{${\cal O}$}= \mbox{${\cal D}$}$ is proved by coinduction.