A 2-group is a ‘categorified ’ version of a group, in which the underlying set G has been replaced by a category and the multiplication map m: G×G → G has been replaced by a functor. Various versions of this notion have already been explored; our goal here is to provide a detailed introduction to two, which we call ‘weak ’ and ‘coherent ’ 2-groups. A weak 2-group is a weak monoidal category in which every morphism has an inverse and every object x has a ‘weak inverse’: an object y such that x ⊗ y ∼ = 1 ∼ = y ⊗ x. A coherent 2-group is a weak 2-group in which every object x is equipped with a specified weak inverse ¯x and isomorphisms ix: 1 → x ⊗ ¯x, ex: ¯x ⊗ x → 1 forming an adjunction. We describe 2-categories of weak and coherent 2-groups and an ‘improvement ’ 2-functor that turns weak 2-groups into coherent ones, and prove that this 2-functor is a 2-equivalence of 2-categories. We internalize the concept of coherent 2-group, which gives a quick way to define Lie 2-groups. We give a tour of examples, including the ‘fundamental 2-group ’ of a space and various Lie 2-groups. We also explain how coherent 2-groups can be classified in terms of 3rd cohomology classes in group cohomology. Finally, using this classification, we construct for any connected and simply-connected compact simple Lie group G a family of 2-groups G � ( � ∈ Z) having G as its group of objects and U(1) as the group of automorphisms of its identity object. These 2-groups are built using Chern–Simons theory, and are closely related to the Lie 2-algebras g � ( � ∈ R) described in a companion paper. 1 1

Abstract. Two constructions of paths in double categories are studied, providing algebraic versions of the homotopy groupoid of a space. Universal properties of these constructions are presented. The first is seen as the codomain of the universal oplax morphism of double categories and the second, which is a quotient of the first, gives the universal normal oplax morphism. Normality forces an equivalence relation on cells, a special case of which was seen before in the free adjoint construction. These constructions are the object part of 2-comonads which are shown to be oplax idempotent. The coalgebras for these comonads turn out to be Leinster’s fc-multicategories, with representable identities in the second case.

Abstract. This paper is a rather informal guide to some of the basic theory of 2-categories and bicategories, including notions of limit and colimit, 2-dimensional universal algebra, formal category theory, and nerves of bicategories. 1. Overview and basic examples This paper is a rather informal guide to some of the basic theory of 2-categories and bicategories, including notions of limit and colimit, 2-dimensional universal algebra, formal category theory, and nerves of bicategories. As is the way of these things, the choice of topics is somewhat personal. No attempt is made at either rigour or completeness. Nor is it completely introductory: you will not find a definition of bicategory; but then nor will you really need one to read it. In keeping with the philosophy of category theory, the morphisms between bicategories play more of a role than the bicategories themselves. 1.1. The key players. There are bicategories, 2-categories, and Cat-categories. The latter two are exactly the same (except that strictly speaking a Cat-category should have small hom-categories, but that need not concern us here). The first two are nominally different — the 2-categories are the strict bicategories, and not every bicategory is strict — but every bicategory is biequivalent to a strict one, and biequivalence is the right general notion of equivalence for bicategories and for 2-categories. Nonetheless, the theories of bicategories, 2-categories, and Catcategories have rather different flavours.

Abstract. In some bicategories, the 1-cells are ‘morphisms ’ between the 0-cells, such as functors between categories, but in others they are ‘objects ’ over the 0-cells, such

There is a 2-category J-Colim of small categories equipped with a choice of colimit for each diagram whose domain J lies in a given small class J of small categories, functors strictly preserving such colimits, and natural transformations. The evident forgetful 2-functor from J-Colim to the 2-category Cat of small categories is known to be monadic. We extend this result by considering not just conical colimits, but general weighted colimits; not just ordinary categories but enriched ones; and not just small classes of colimits but large ones; in this last case we are forced to move from the 2-category V-Cat of small V-categories to V-categories with object-set in some larger universe. In each case, the functors preserving the colimits in the usual "up-to-isomorphism" sense are recovered as the pseudomorphisms between algebras for the 2-monad in question.

Abstract. In some bicategories, the 1-cells are ‘morphisms ’ between the 0-cells, such as functors between categories, but in others they are ‘objects’ over the 0-cells, such as bimodules, spans, distributors, or parametrized spectra. Many bicategorical notions do not work well in these cases, because the ‘morphisms between 0-cells’, such as ring homomorphisms, are missing. We can include them by using a pseudo double category, but usually these morphisms also induce base change functors acting on the 1-cells. We avoid complicated coherence problems by describing base change ‘nonalgebraically’, using categorical fibrations. The resulting ‘framed bicategories ’ assemble into 2-categories, with attendant notions of equivalence, adjunction, and so on which are more appropriate for our examples than are the usual bicategorical ones. We then describe two ways to construct framed bicategories. One is an analogue of rings and bimodules which starts from one framed bicategory and builds another. The other starts from a ‘monoidal fibration’, meaning a parametrized family of monoidal categories, and produces an analogue of the framed bicategory of spans. Combining the two, we obtain a construction which includes both enriched and internal categories as special cases.

Abstract. In some bicategories, the 1-cells are ‘morphisms ’ between the 0-cells, such as functors between categories, but in others they are ‘objects’ over the 0-cells, such as bimodules, spans, distributors, or parametrized spectra. Many bicategorical notions do not work well in these cases, because the ‘morphisms between 0-cells’, such as ring homomorphisms, are missing. We can include them by using a pseudo double category, but usually these morphisms also induce base change functors acting on the 1-cells. We avoid complicated coherence problems by describing base change ‘nonalgebraically’, using categorical fibrations. The resulting ‘framed bicategories ’ assemble into 2-categories, with attendant notions of equivalence, adjunction, and so on which are more appropriate for our examples than are the usual bicategorical ones. We then describe two ways to construct framed bicategories. One is an analogue of rings and bimodules which starts from one framed bicategory and builds another. The other starts from a ‘monoidal fibration’, meaning a parametrized family of monoidal categories, and produces an analogue of