Epimorphism Preserves Groups

Theorem

Let $\struct {S, \circ}$ and $\struct {T, *}$ be algebraic structures.

Let $\phi: \struct {S, \circ} \to \struct {T, *}$ be an epimorphism.

Let $\struct {S, \circ}$ be a group.

Then $\struct {T, *}$ is also a group.

From Epimorphism Preserves Semigroups, if $\struct {S, \circ}$ is a semigroup then so is $\struct {T, *}$.

From Epimorphism Preserves Identity, if $\struct {S, \circ}$ has an identity $e_S$, then $\map \phi {e_S}$ is the identity for $*$.

From Epimorphism Preserves Inverses, if $x^{-1}$ is an inverse of $x$ for $\circ$, then $\map \phi {x^{-1} }$ is an inverse of $\map \phi x$ for $*$.

The result follows from the definition of group.

$\blacksquare$

Note that this result is applied to epimorphisms.

For a general homomorphism which is not surjective, nothing definite can be said about the behaviour of the elements of its codomain which are not part of its image.

1965: Seth Warner: Modern Algebra ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {II}$: New Structures from Old: $\S 12$: Homomorphisms: Theorem $12.2$: Corollary
1965: Seth Warner: Modern Algebra ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {II}$: New Structures from Old: $\S 12$: Homomorphisms: Exercise $12.1$