Weak equivalence (homotopy theory)

In mathematics, a weak equivalence is a notion from homotopy theory that in some sense identifies objects that have the same "shape". This notion is formalized in the axiomatic definition of a model category.

A model category is a category with classes of morphisms called weak equivalences, fibrations, and cofibrations, satisfying several axioms. The associated homotopy category of a model category has the same objects, but the morphisms are changed in order to make the weak equivalences into isomorphisms. It is a useful observation that the associated homotopy category depends only on the weak equivalences, not on the fibrations and cofibrations.