Codensity: Isbell duality, pro-objects, compactness and accessibility

Abstract

We study codensity monads $T$ induced by (mostly small, mostly dense) full subcategories $A \subset K$. These monads behave quite similarly, we show some connections with the Isbell duality, pro-finite objects and compact spaces. We prove that they are quite unlikely to be accessible. Finally, we introduce the notion of generically idempotent monad and comment its properties.