Definition. isomorphism, endomorphism, automorphism [ca-0015]

Fix the algebraic structures and the homomorphisms under consideration. An Isomorphism \(\phi :A\to B\) is an iso: a homomorphism admitting an inverse homomorphism \(\phi ^{-1}:B\to A\), so that \(\phi ^{-1}\circ \phi =\operatorname {id}_A\) and \(\phi \circ \phi ^{-1}=\operatorname {id}_B\). We write \(A\cong B\) when such an isomorphism exists. This is the invertible-morphism definition of [stacks2017stacks, Definition 4.2.4 and the following paragraph, Tag 0013].

An Endomorphism of \(A\) is a homomorphism \(\phi :A\to A\). The set of all such homomorphisms is denoted \(\operatorname {End}(A)\). Thus an individual endomorphism satisfies \(\phi \in \operatorname {End}(A)\).

An Automorphism of \(A\) is an endomorphism that is an isomorphism. The set of all automorphisms is denoted \(\operatorname {Aut}(A)\). These notations always refer to the chosen kind of homomorphism; for modules over \(R\), the notation \(\operatorname {End}_R(M)\) specifies \(R\)-linear maps.