Categorical Geometry and Integration Without Points

Abstract

The theory of integration over infinite-dimensional spaces is known to encounter serious difficulties. Categorical ideas seem to arise naturally on the path to a remedy. Such an approach was suggested and initiated by Segal in his pioneering article segal. In our paper we follow his ideas from a different perspective, slightly more categorical, and strongly inspired by the point-free topology. First, we develop a general (point-free) concept of measurability (extending the standard Lebesgue integration when applying to the classical $σ$-algebra). Second (and here we have a major difference from the classical theory), we prove that every finite-additive function $μ$ with values in $[0,1]$ can be extended to a measure on an abstract $σ$-algebra; this correspondence is functorial and yields uniqueness. As an example we show that the Segal space can be characterized by completely canonical data. Furthermore, from our results it follows that a satisfactory point-free integration arises everywhere where we have a finite-additive probability function on a Boolean algebra.