TITLE: What's the localic reflection of a presheaf topos?
QUESTION [8 upvotes]: $\newcommand{\Psh}{\operatorname{Psh}}
\newcommand{\Sh}{\operatorname{Sh}}
\newcommand{\O}{{\mathcal{O}}}$
Let $X$ be a locale, $\O(X)$ the corresponding frame.

What's the localic reflection of $\Psh X$?

We know that
$$
\O(X) \cong \mathrm{Sub}_{\Sh X}(1)
$$
Call $Y = \mathrm{Sub}_{\Psh X}(1)$ the localic reflection of $\Psh X$.
One has $\Psh X \simeq \Sh Y$.
Since $\Sh X$ is a subtopos of $\Psh X$, $X$ should be a sublocale of $Y$, i.e. there should be a nucleus $j$ on $\O(Y)$ such that $\O(X) = \O(Y) / j$.

Who's $j$?

REPLY [11 votes]: I'm writing $\mathcal{O}(X)$ for the frame corresponding to $X$.
Opens of $Y$ are sieves on $X$, i.e. the collection of open subsets $V \subset \mathcal{O}(X)$ such that $v \in V$ and $u \leqslant v \Rightarrow u \in V$. Thus $Y$ is the locale of downward closed subsets of $\mathcal O(X)$.
More generally if $P$ is a poset, a subterminal presheaf on $P$ is a functor $P \to \{ 0,1\}$ and the set of $p \in P$ sent to $1$ is a sieve on $P$. This induces a bijection between sieves and subterminal presheaves.
When you identify $X$ as a sublocale of $Y$, its opens correspond to principal sieves, i.e. the ones of the form $\downarrow\! v = \{ u \in \mathcal{O}(X) | u \leqslant v \}$.
Thus the inclusion of locales $X \hookrightarrow Y$ is given by the quotient of frames $\mathcal{O}(Y) \to \mathcal{O}(X)$ defined as $V \mapsto \bigvee V$ and whose right adjoint is $v \mapsto {\downarrow\! v}$.
The nucleus $j$ hence takes a general sieve $V \subset \mathcal{O}(X)$ and sends it to the smallest principal ideal containing $V$, that is, $\downarrow\! \bigvee V$.