On the 1-homotopy type of Lie groupoids

Abstract

We propose a notion of 1-homotopy for generalized maps. This notion generalizes those of natural transformation and ordinary homotopy for functors. The 1-homotopy type of a Lie groupoid is shown to be invariant under Morita equivalence. As an application we consider orbifolds as groupoids and study the notion of orbifold 1-homotopy type induced by a 1-homotopy between presentations of the orbifold maps.