Universal topological algebra needs closed topological categories

Abstract

It is shown that a development of universal topological algebra, based in the obvious way on the category of topological spaces, leads in general to a pathological situation. The pathology disappears when the base category is changed to a cartesian closed topological category or to a topological category endowed with a compatible closed symmetric monoidal structure, provided that in the latter case, the algebraic operations are expressed in terms of monoidal powers rather than the usual cartesian powers. With such base categories, universal topological algebra becomes virtually as well-behaved as ordinary (setbased) universal algebra.