Automorphism - Definition

Definition

The exact definition of an automorphism depends on the type of "mathematical object" in question and what, precisely, constitutes an "isomorphism" of that object. The most general setting in which these words have meaning is an abstract branch of mathematics called category theory. Category theory deals with abstract objects and morphisms between those objects.

In category theory, an automorphism is an endomorphism (i.e. a morphism from an object to itself) which is also an isomorphism (in the categorical sense of the word).

This is a very abstract definition since, in category theory, morphisms aren't necessarily functions and objects aren't necessarily sets. In most concrete settings, however, the objects will be sets with some additional structure and the morphisms will be functions preserving that structure.

In the context of abstract algebra, for example, a mathematical object is an algebraic structure such as a group, ring, or vector space. An isomorphism is simply a bijective homomorphism. (The definition of a homomorphism depends on the type of algebraic structure; see, for example: group homomorphism, ring homomorphism, and linear operator).

The identity morphism (identity mapping) is called the trivial automorphism in some contexts. Respectively, other (non-identity) automorphisms are called nontrivial automorphisms.