Initial and terminal objects

In category theory, a branch of mathematics, an initial object of a category is an object in such that for every object in , there exists precisely one morphism .
The dual notion is that of a terminal object (also called terminal element): is terminal if for every object in there exists exactly one morphism . Initial objects are also called coterminal or universal, and terminal objects are also called final.
If an object is both initial and terminal, it is called a zero object or null object. A pointed category is one with a zero object.
A strict initial object is one for which every morphism into is an isomorphism.
Properties.
Existence and uniqueness.
Initial and terminal objects are not required to exist in a given category. However, if they do exist, they are essentially unique. Specifically, if and are two different initial objects, then there is a unique isomorphism between them. Moreover, if is an initial object then any object isomorphic to is also an initial object. The same is true for terminal objects.
For complete categories there is an existence theorem for initial objects. Specifically, a (locally small) complete category has an initial object if and only if there exist a set ( a proper class) and an -indexed family of objects of such that for any object of , there is at least one morphism for some .
Equivalent formulations.
Terminal objects in a category may also be defined as limits of the unique empty diagram . Since the empty category is vacuously a discrete category, a terminal object can be thought of as an empty product (a product is indeed the limit of the discrete diagram , in general). Dually, an initial object is a colimit of the empty diagram and can be thought of as an empty coproduct or categorical sum.
It follows that any functor which preserves limits will take terminal objects to terminal objects, and any functor which preserves colimits will take initial objects to initial objects. For example, the initial object in any concrete category with free objects will be the free object generated by the empty set (since the free functor, being left adjoint to the forgetful functor to Set, preserves colimits).
Initial and terminal objects may also be characterized in terms of universal properties and adjoint functors. Let 1 be the discrete category with a single object (denoted by •), and let be the unique (constant) functor to 1. Then
Relation to other categorical constructions.
Many natural constructions in category theory can be formulated in terms of finding an initial or terminal object in a suitable category.