Internal groupoids as involutive-2-links

Abstract

Regardless of its environment, the category of internal groupoids is shown to be equivalent to the full subcategory of involutive-2-links that are unital and associative. The new notion of involutive-2-link originates from the study of triangulated surfaces and their application in additive manufacturing and 3d-printing. Thus, this result establishes a bridge between the structure of an internal groupoid and an abstract triangulated surface. An example is provided which can be thought of as a crossed-module of magmas rather than groups.