We identify the topological Hochschild homology (THH) of the Thom spectrum associated to an E_\infty classifying map X -> BG, for G an appropriate group or monoid (e.g. U, O, and F). We deduce the comparison from the observation of McClure, Schwanzl, and Vogt that THH of a cofibrant commutative S-algebra (E_\infty ring spectrum) R can be described as an indexed colimit together with a verification that the Lewis-May operadic Thom spectrum functor preserves indexed colimits. We prove a splitting result THH(Mf) \htp Mf \sma BX_+ which yields a convenient description of THH(MU). This splitting holds even when the classifying map f: X -> BG is only a homotopy commutative A_\infty map, provided that the induced multiplication on Mf extends to an E_\infty ring structure; this permits us to recover Bokstedt's calculation of THH(HZ).
We apply an announced result of Blumberg-Cohen-Schlichtkrull to reprove (under restricted hypotheses) a theorem of Mahowald: the connective real and complex K-theory spectra are not Thom spectra.
We offer a complete description of $THH(E(2))$ under the assumption that the Johnson-Wilson spectrum $E(2)$ at a chosen odd prime carries an $E_\infty$-structure. We also place $THH(E(2))$ in a cofiber sequence $E(2) \rightarrow THH(E(2))\rightarrow \overline{THH}(E(2))$ and describe $\overline{THH}(E(2))$ under the assumption that $E(2)$ is an $E_3$-ring spectrum. We state general results about the $K(i)$-local behaviour of $THH(E(n))$ for all $n$ and $0 \leq i \leq n$. In particular, we compute $K(i)_*THH(E(n))$.
Let $f:G\to \mathrm{Pic}(R)$ be a map of $E_\infty$-groups, where $\mathrm{Pic}(R)$ denotes the Picard space of an $E_\infty$-ring spectrum $R$. We determine the tensor $X\otimes_R Mf$ of the Thom $E_\infty$-$R$-algebra $Mf$ with a space $X$; when $X$ is the circle, the tensor with $X$ is topological Hochschild homology over $R$. We use the theory of localizations of $\infty$-categories as a technical tool: we contribute to this theory an $\infty$-categorical analogue of Day's reflection theorem about closed symmetric monoidal structures on localizations, and we prove that for a smashing local…
Let A be an A_\infty ring spectrum. We use the description from [2] of the cyclic bar and cobar construction to give a direct definition of topological Hochschild homology and cohomology of A using the Stasheff associahedra and another family of polyhedra called cyclohedra. This construction builds the maps making up the A_\infty structure into THH(A), and allows us to study how THH(A) varies over the moduli space of A_\infty structures on A. As an example, we study how topological Hochschild cohomology of Morava K-theory varies over the moduli space of A_\infty structures and show that in the…
In this work we study the $E_{\infty}$-ring $\text{THH}(\mathbb{F}_p)$ as a graded spectrum. Following an identification at the level of $E_2$-algebras with $\mathbb{F}_p[ΩS^3]$, the group ring of the $E_1$-group $ΩS^3$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$, we show that the grading on $\text{THH}(\mathbb{F}_p)$ arises from decomposition on the cyclic bar construction of the pointed monoid $ΩS^3$. This allows us to use trace methods to compute the algebraic $K$-theory of $\text{THH}(\mathbb{F}_p)$. We also show that as an $E_2$ $H\mathbb{F}_p$-ring, $\text{THH}(\mathbb{F}_p)$ is uniquely determined by its homot…
The topological Hochschild homology THH(R) of a commutative S-algebra (E_infty ring spectrum) R naturally has the structure of a commutative R-algebra in the strict sense, and of a Hopf algebra over R in the homotopy category. We show, under a flatness assumption, that this makes the Boekstedt spectral sequence converging to the mod p homology of THH(R) into a Hopf algebra spectral sequence. We then apply this additional structure to the study of some interesting examples, including the commutative S-algebras ku, ko, tmf, ju and j, and to calculate the homotopy groups of THH(ku) and THH(ko) af…
Let $R$ be an $E_\infty$-ring spectrum. Given a map $ζ$ from a space $X$ to $BGL_1R$, one can construct a Thom spectrum, $X^ζ$, which generalises the classical notion of Thom spectrum for spherical fibrations in the case $R=S^0$, the sphere spectrum. If $X$ is a loop space ($\simeq ΩY$) and $ζ$ is homotopy equivalent to $Ωf$ for a map $f$ from $Y$ to $B^2GL_1R$, then the Thom spectrum has an $A_\infty$-ring structure. The Topological Hochschild Homology of these $A_\infty$-ring spectra is equivalent to the Thom spectrum of a map out of the free loop space of $Y$. This paper considers the case …
Let GL_1(R) be the units of a commutative ring spectrum R. In this paper we identify the composition BGL_1(R)->K(R)->THH(R)->Ω^{\infty}(R), where K(R) is the algebraic K-theory and THH(R) the topological Hochschild homology of R. As a corollary we show that classes in π_{i-1}(R) not annihilated by the stable Hopf map give rise to non-trivial classes in K_i(R) for i\geq 3.
Hopkins and Mahowald gave a simple description of the mod $p$ Eilenberg Mac Lane spectrum $\mathbb{F}_p$ as the free $\mathbb{E}_2$-algebra with an equivalence of $p$ and $0$. We show for each faithful $2$-dimensional representation $λ$ of a $p$-group $G$ that the $G$-equivariant Eilenberg Mac Lane spectrum $\underline{\mathbb{F}}_p$ is the free $\mathbb{E}_λ$-algebra with an equivalence of $p$ and $0$. This unifies and simplifies recent work of Behrens, Hahn, and Wilson, and extends it to include the dihedral $2$-subgroups of O(2). The main new idea is that $\underline{\mathbb{F}}_p$ has a si…
This paper lays some of the foundations for working with not-necessarily-commutative bialgebras and their categories of comodules in $\infty$-categories. We prove that the categories of comodules and modules over a bialgebra always admit suitably structured monoidal structures in which the tensor product is taken in the ambient category (as opposed to a relative (co)tensor product over the underlying algebra or coalgebra of the bialgebra). We give two examples of higher coalgebraic structure: first, following Hess we show that for a map of $\mathbb{E}_n$-ring spectra $ϕ\colon A\to B$, the asso…
We show that a large number of Thom spectra, i.e. colimits of morphisms $BG\to BGL_1(\mathbb{S})$, can be obtained as iterated Thom spectra, i.e. colimits of morphisms $BG\to BGL_1(Mf)$ for some Thom spectrum $Mf$. This leads to a number of new relative Thom isomorphisms, e.g. $MU[6,\infty)\wedge_{MString} MU[6,\infty)\simeq MU[6,\infty)\wedge\mathbb{S}[B^3Spin]$. As an example of interest to chromatic homotopy theorists, we also show that Ravenel's $X(n)$ filtration of $MU$ is a tower of intermediate Thom spectra determined by a natural filtration of $BU$ by sub-bialagebras.
We develop a generalization of the theory of Thom spectra using the language of infinity categories. This treatment exposes the conceptual underpinnings of the Thom spectrum functor: we use a new model of parametrized spectra, and our definition is motivated by the geometric definition of Thom spectra of May-Sigurdsson. For an associative ring spectrum $R$, we associate a Thom spectrum to a map of infinity categories from the infinity groupoid of a space $X$ to the infinity category of free rank one $R$-modules, which we show is a model for $BGL_1 R$; we show that $BGL_1 R$ classifies homotopy…
In this article, we study the topological Hochschild homology of $\mathbf{E}_3$-forms of truncated Brown-Peterson spectra, taken relative to certain Thom spectra $X(p^n)$ (introduced by Ravenel and used by Devinatz-Hopkins-Smith in the proof of the nilpotence theorem). We prove analogues of Bökstedt's calculations $\mathrm{THH}(\mathbf{F}_p) \simeq \mathbf{F}_p[ΩS^3]$ and $\mathrm{THH}(\mathbf{Z}_p) \simeq \mathbf{Z}_p[ΩS^3\langle{3}\rangle]$. We also construct a topological analogue of the Sen operator of Bhatt-Lurie-Drinfeld, and study a higher chromatic extension. The behavior of these "top…
The cotangent complex of a map of commutative rings is a central object in deformation theory. Since the 1990s, it has been generalized to the homotopical setting of $E_\infty$-ring spectra in various ways. In this work we first establish, in the context of $\infty$-categories and using Goodwillie's calculus of functors, that various definitions of the cotangent complex of a map of $E_\infty$-ring spectra that exist in the literature are equivalent. We then turn our attention to a specific example. Let $R$ be an $E_\infty$-ring spectrum and $\mathrm{Pic}(R)$ denote its Picard $E_\infty$-group.…
The $2$-primary Hopf invariant $1$ elements in the stable homotopy groups of spheres form the most accessible family of elements. In this paper we explore some properties of the $\mathcal{E}_\infty$ ring spectra obtained from certain iterated mapping cones by applying the free algebra functor. In fact, these are equivalent to Thom spectra over infinite loop spaces related to the classifying spaces $B\mathrm{SO},\,B\mathrm{Spin},\,B\mathrm{String}$. We show that the homology of these Thom spectra are all extended comodule algebras of the form $\mathcal{A}_*\square_{\mathcal{A}(r)_*}P_*$ over th…
The generalized string topology construction of Gruher and Salvatore assigns to any bundle of $E_n$-algebras $A$ over a closed oriented manifold $M$ a collection of intersection-type operations on the homology of the total space. These operations are realized by an $H_n$-ring structure on the Thom spectrum $A^{-TM}$ under the Thom isomorphism. We rigidify and extend this construction to a functor connecting the homotopy theory of spaces and spectra parametrized by $M$ to the homotopy theory of module spectra over the Atiyah-Milnor-Spanier-Whitehead dual $M^{-TM} \simeq \bbD M$. Then, using an …
Victor Snaith gave a construction of periodic complex bordism by inverting the Bott element in the suspension spectrum of $BU$. This presents an $\mathbb{E}_\infty$ structure on periodic complex bordism by different means than the usual Thom spectrum definition of the $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring $MUP$. Here, we prove that these two $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-rings are in fact different, though the underlying $\mathbb{E}_2$-rings are equivalent. Nonetheless, we prove that both rings $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-orient $KU_2^{\wedge}$ and other forms of $K$-theory.
Let $A \to B$ be a $G$-Galois extension of rings, or more generally of $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring spectra in the sense of Rognes. A basic question in algebraic $K$-theory asks how close the map $K(A) \to K(B)^{hG}$ is to being an equivalence, i.e., how close algebraic $K$-theory is to satisfying Galois descent. An elementary argument with the transfer shows that this equivalence is true rationally in most cases of interest. Motivated by the classical descent theorem of Thomason, one also expects such a result after periodic localization. We formulate and prove a general result which enables one …
We show that Ravenel's spectrum $X(2)$ is the versal $E_1$-$S$-algebra of characteristic $η$. This implies that every $E_1$-$S$-algebra $R$ of characteristic $η$ admits an $E_1$-ring map $X(2)\to R$, i.e. an $\mathbb{A}_\infty$ complex orientation of degree 2. This implies that $R^\ast(\mathbb{C}P^2)\cong R_\ast[x]/x^3$. Additionally, if $R$ is an $\mathbb{E}_2$-ring Thom spectrum admitting a map (of homotopy ring spectra) from $X(2)$, e.g. $X(n)$, its topological Hochschild homology has a simple description.
