Monads and Distributive Laws in Substructural Contexts

We present a categorical theory of monads and distributive laws in substructural contexts. In the study of distributive laws, the roles of (the absence of) structural rules for variable contexts have been recognized; our theory formalizes these substructural situations using Tronin's verbal categories W, in a uniform and presentation-independent manner. We introduce the classes of W-operadic monads (those defined via the structural rules in W) and of W-commutative monads (those invariant under the structural rules in W). We give a canonical construction of a distributive law ST → T S of monads on Set; it is applicable when S is W-operadic and T is W-commutative (under mild conditions). This accounts for many known and new distributive laws. Even when S fails to be W-operadic, we can refine S and force W-operadicity; this captures Varacca and Winskel's construction of indexed valuations.