A model structure for cartesian 2-fibrations

Abstract: Cartesian 2-fibrations provide a way to understand indexed categories, but their classical ``straightening'' construction requires several layers of weak coherence data. This paper develops a homotopical framework that replaces much of this bookkeeping with a fully strict model. By using marked 2-categories to record the cartesian morphisms and 2-cells, we construct a model structure whose fibrant objects are precisely the cartesian 2-fibrations over a fixed 2-category $\mathcal{C}$. We then show that the marked Grothendieck construction identifies these 2-fibrations, up to weak equivalence, with strict 2-functors from $\mathcal{C}$ into $2\mathrm{Cat}$. As an additional contribution, we construct localizations of 2-categories that simultaneously invert selected morphisms and 2-cells.