Introduction and acknowledgements have been updated with more references to earlier work. Improved Theorem 2.9 (strictification of pseudoequivariant functors). The section on coassembly has been removed and will be treated in a forthcoming paper
We give a new construction of the equivariant $K$-theory of group actions (cf. Barwick et al.), producing an infinite loop $G$-space for each Waldhausen category with $G$-action, for a finite group $G$. On the category $R(X)$ of retractive spaces over a $G$-space $X$, this produces an equivariant lift of Waldhausen's functor $A(X)$, and we show that the $H$-fixed points are the bivariant $A$-theory of the fibration $X_{hH}\to BH$. We then use the framework of spectral Mackey functors to produce a second equivariant refinement $A_G(X)$ whose fixed points have tom Dieck type splittings. We expect this second definition to be suitable for an equivariant generalization of the parametrized $h$-cobordism theorem.
In this note we show that Waldhausen's K-theory functor from Waldhausen categories to spaces has a universal property: It is the target of the "universal global Euler characteristic", in other words, the "additivization" of the functor sending a Waldhausen category C to obj(C) . We also show that a large class of functors possesses such an additivization.
In his "Algebraic K-theory of topological spaces II" Waldhausen proved that his functor A(X) splits: There is a canonical map from the stable homotopy of X which has a retraction up to weak equivalence. We adapt Waldhausen's proof to obtain a calculation of the Differential (in the sense of Goodwillie's "Calculus I") of A(X) at any path-connected base space.
We prove a series of Approximation Theorems in the setting of Waldhausen quasicategories. These theorems, inspired by Waldhausen's 1985 Approximation Theorem, give sufficient conditions for an exact functor of Waldhausen quasicategories to induce a level-wise weak homotopy equivalence of K-theory spectra. The Pre-Approximation Theorem, which holds in the general setting of quasicategories without Waldhausen structures, provides sufficient conditions for a functor F:A->B to restrict to an equivalence of the maximal infinity-groupoids in A and B. Our Approximation Theorems follow from the Pre-Ap…
In previous work, we develop a generalized Waldhausen $S_{\bullet}$-construction whose input is an augmented stable double Segal space and whose output is a unital 2-Segal space. Here, we prove that this construction recovers the previously known $S_{\bullet}$-constructions for exact categories and for stable and exact $(\infty,1)$-categories, as well as the relative $S_{\bullet}$-construction for exact functors.
It is known by results of Dyckerhoff-Kapranov and of Gálvez--Carrillo-Kock-Tonks that the output of the Waldhausen S.-construction has a unital 2-Segal structure. Here, we prove that a certain S.-functor defines an equivalence between the category of augmented stable double categories and the category of unital 2-Segal sets. The inverse equivalence is described explicitly by a path construction. We illustrate the equivalence for the known examples of partial monoids, cobordism categories with genus constraints and graph coalgebras.
The Taylor tower of a functor from based spaces to spectra can be classified according to the action of a certain comonad on the collection of derivatives of the functor. We describe various equivalent conditions under which this action can be lifted to the structure of a module over the Koszul dual of the little L-discs operad. In particular, we show that this is the case when the functor is a left Kan extension from a certain category of `pointed framed L-manifolds' and pointed framed embeddings. As an application we prove that the Taylor tower of Waldhausen's algebraic K-theory of spaces fu…
We define a $K$-theory for pointed right derivators and show that it agrees with Waldhausen $K$-theory in the case where the derivator arises from a good Waldhausen category. This $K$-theory is not invariant under general equivalences of derivators, but only under a stronger notion of equivalence that is defined by considering a simplicial enrichment of the category of derivators. We show that derivator $K$-theory, as originally defined, is the best approximation to Waldhausen $K$-theory by a functor that is invariant under equivalences of derivators.
We define a theory of Goodwillie calculus for enriched functors from finite pointed simplicial G-sets to symmetric G-spectra, where G is a finite group. We extend a notion of G-linearity suggested by Blumberg to define stably excisive and rho-analytic homotopy functors, as well as a G-differential, in this equivariant context. A main result of the paper is that analytic functors with trivial derivatives send highly connected G-maps to G-equivalences. It is analogous to the classical result of Goodwillie that "functors with zero derivative are locally constant". As main example we show that Hes…
In this paper we identify the ``nil-terms'' for Waldhausen's algebraic K-theory of spaces functor as the reduced K-theory of a category of equivariant spaces equipped with a homotopically nilpotent endomorphism.
We decompose the K-theory space of a Waldhausen category in terms of its Dwyer-Kan simplicial localization. This leads to a criterion for functors to induce equivalences of K-theory spectra that generalizes and explains many of the criteria appearing in the literature. We show that under mild hypotheses, a weakly exact functor that induces an equivalence of homotopy categories induces an equivalence of K-theory spectra.
We study functors from spaces to spaces or spectra that preserve weak homotopy equivalences. For each such functor we construct a universal n-excisive approximation, which may be thought of as its n-excisive part. Homogeneous functors, meaning n-excisive functors with trivial (n-1)-excisive part, can be classified: they correspond to symmetric functors of n variables that are reduced and 1-excisive in each variable. We discuss some important examples, including the identity functor and Waldhausen's algebraic K-theory.
For all subgroups $H$ of a cyclic $p$-group $G$ we define norm functors that build a $G$-Mackey functor from an $H$-Mackey functor. We give an explicit construction of these functors in terms of generators and relations based solely on the intrinsic, algebraic properties of Mackey functors and Tambara functors. We use these norm functors to define a monoidal structure on the category of Mackey functors where Tambara functors are the commutative ring objects.
Spectral Mackey functors are homotopy-coherent versions of ordinary Mackey functors as defined by Dress. We show that they can be described as excisive functors on a suitable infinity-category, and we use this to show that universal examples of these objects are given by algebraic K-theory. More importantly, we introduce the unfurling of certain families of Waldhausen infinity-categories bound together with suitable adjoint pairs of functors; this construction completely solves the homotopy coherence problem that arises when one wishes to study the algebraic K-theory of such objects as spectra…
A functor on compact Hausdorf spaces is constructed as the sum of certain equivariant K-theory groups. It is shown that the functor takes values in lambda-rings and satisfies a Thom isomorphism. In the case that the space is a CW-complex constructed only of even cells the functor outputs the free lambda-ring on generators in one-to-one correspondence with those cells.
For a finite group $G$, the so-called $G$-Mackey functors form an abelian category $M(G)$ that has many applications in the study of $G$-equivariant stable homotopy. One would expect that the derived category $D(M(G))$ would be similarly important as the "homological" counterpart of the $G$-equivariant stable homotopy category. It turns out that this is not so -- $D(M(G))$ is pathological in many respects. We propose and study a replacement for $D(M(G))$, a certain triangulated category $DM(G)$ of "derived Mackey functors" that contains $M(G)$ but is different from $D(M(G))$. We show that stan…
We prove that each exponential functor on the category of finite-dimensional complex inner product spaces and isomorphisms gives rise to an equivariant higher (ie. non-classical) twist of $K$-theory over $G=SU(n)$. This twist is represented by a Fell bundle $\mathcal{E} \to \mathcal{G}$, which reduces to the basic gerbe for the top exterior power functor. The groupoid $\mathcal{G}$ comes equipped with a $G$-action and an augmentation map $\mathcal{G} \to G$, that is an equivariant equivalence. The $C^*$-algebra $C^*(\mathcal{E})$ associated to $\mathcal{E}$ is stably isomorphic to the section …
We show that the $\mathbb{Z}/2$-equivariant Morava K-theories with reality (as defined by Hu) are self-dual with respect to equivariant Anderson duality. In particular, there is a universal coefficients exact sequence in Morava K-theory with reality. As a particular example, we recover the self-duality of the spectrum $KO$. The study of $\mathbb{Z}/2$-equivariant Anderson duality made in this paper gives a nice interpretation of some symmetries of $RO(\mathbb{Z}/2)$-graded (i.e. bigraded) equivariant cohomology groups in terms of Mackey functor duality.
Given a finite group $G$ acting on a ring $R$, Merling constructed an equivariant algebraic $K$-theory $G$-spectrum, and work of Malkiewich and Merling, as well as work of Barwick, provides an interpretation of this construction as a spectral Mackey functor. This construction is powerful, but highly categorical; as a result the Mackey functors comprising the homotopy are not obvious from the construction and have therefore not yet been calculated. In this work, we provide a computation of the homotopy Mackey functors of equivariant algebraic $K$-theory in terms of a purely algebraic constructi…
For $N_\infty$ operads $\mathcal O$ and $\mathcal O'$ such that there is an inclusion of the associated indexing systems, there is a forgetful functor from incomplete Tambara functors over $\mathcal O'$ to incomplete Tambara functors over $\mathcal O$. Roughly speaking, this functor forgets the norms in $\mathcal O'$ that are not present in $\mathcal O$. The forgetful functor has both a left and a right adjoint; the left adjoint is an operadic tensor product, but the right adjoint is more mysterious. We explicitly compute the right adjoint for finite cyclic groups of prime order.
In this paper, we prove an equivariant version of the classical Dold-Thom theorem. Associated to a finite group, a CW-complex on which this group acts and a covariant coefficient system in the sense of Bredon, we functorially construct a topological abelian group by the coend construction. Then we prove that the homotopy groups of this topological abelian group are naturally isomorphic to the Bredon equivariant homology of the CW-complex. At the end we present several examples of this result.
We study the "higher algebra" of spectral Mackey functors, which the first named author introduced in Part I of this paper. In particular, armed with our new theory of symmetric promonoidal $\infty$-categories and a suitable generalization of the second named author's Day convolution, we endow the $\infty$-category of Mackey functors with a well-behaved symmetric monoidal structure. This makes it possible to speak of spectral Green functors for any operad $O$. We also answer a question of A. Mathew, proving that the algebraic $K$-theory of group actions is lax symmetric monoidal. We also show …
We establish natural splittings for the values of global Mackey functors at orthogonal, unitary and symplectic groups. In particular, the restriction homomorphisms between the orthogonal, unitary and symplectic groups of adjacent dimensions are naturally split epimorphisms. The interest in the splitting comes from equivariant stable homotopy theory. The equivariant stable homotopy groups of every global spectrum form a global Mackey functor, so the splittings imply that certain long exact homotopy group sequences separate into short exact sequences. For the real and complex global Thom spectra…
Free and cofree equivariant spectra are important classes of equivariant spectra which represent equivariant cohomology theories on free equivariant spaces. Greenlees-Shipley and Pol and the author have given an algebraic model for rational (co)free equivariant spectra. In this paper, we extend this framework by proving that the Quillen functors of induction-restriction-coinduction between categories of (co)free rational equivariant spectra correspond to Quillen functors between the algebraic models in the case of connected compact Lie groups. This is achieved using new abstract techniques reg…
We give a functorial construction of equivariant spectra from a generalized version of Mackey functors in categories. This construction relies on the recent description of the category of equivariant spectra due to Guillou and May. The key element of our construction is a spectrally-enriched functor from a spectrally-enriched version of permutative categories to the category of spectra that is built using an appropriate version of K-theory. As applications of our general construction, we produce a new functorial construction of equivariant Eilenberg--MacLane spectra for Mackey functors and for…
We develop a theory of Goodwillie calculus for functors between $G$-equivariant homotopy theories, where $G$ is a finite group. We construct $J$-excisive approximations of a homotopy functor for any finite $G$-set $J$. These fit together into a poset, the Goodwillie tree, that extends the classical Goodwillie tower. We prove convergence results for the tree of a functor on pointed $G$-spaces that commutes with fixed-points, and we reinterpret the Tom Dieck-splitting as an instance of a more general splitting phenomenon that occurs for the fixed-points of the equivariant derivative of these fun…
We identify the group of homomorphisms $\operatorname{Hom}_{\mathcal{GF}}(F,\mathbf{RU}_{\mathbb Q})$ in the category of ($\operatorname{fin}$)-global functors to the rationalization of the unitary representation ring functor and deduce that the higher $\operatorname{Ext}$-groups $\operatorname{Ext}^n_{\mathcal{GF}}(F,\mathbf{RU}_{\mathbb Q})$, $n\geq 2$ have to vanish. This leads to a rational splitting of the ($\operatorname{fin}$)-global equivariant $K$-theory spectrum into a sum of Eilenberg-MacLane spectra. Interpreted in terms of cohomology theories, it means that the equivariant Chern c…
We define a genuine $\mathbb{Z}/2$-equivariant real algebraic $K$-theory spectrum $KR(A)$, for every genuine $\mathbb{Z}/2$-equivariant spectrum $A$ equipped with a compatible multiplicative structure. This construction extends the real $K$-theory of Hesselholt-Madsen for discrete rings and the Hermitian $K$-theory of Burghelea-Fiedorowicz for simplicial rings. We construct a natural trace map of $\mathbb{Z}/2$-spectra $tr\colon KR(A)\to THR(A)$ to the real topological Hochschild homology spectrum, which extends the $K$-theoretic trace of Bökstedt-Hsiang-Madsen. The trace provides a splitting …
In this paper, we investigate the properties of the category of equivariant diagram spectra indexed on the category W_G of based G-spaces homeomorphic to finite G-CW-complexes for a compact Lie group G. Using the machinery of Mandell, May, Schwede, and Shipley, we show that there is a "stable model structure" on this category of diagram spectra which admits a monoidal Quillen equivalence to the category of orthogonal G-spectra. We construct a second "absolute stable model structure" which is Quillen equivalent to the "stable model structure". Our main result is a concrete identification of the…
We construct a map from the suspension $G$-spectrum $Σ_G^\infty M$ of a smooth compact $G$-manifold to the equivariant $A$-theory spectrum $A_G(M)$, and we show that its fiber is, on fixed points, a wedge of stable $h$-cobordism spectra. This map is constructed as a map of spectral Mackey functors, which is compatible with tom Dieck style splitting formulas on fixed points. In order to synthesize different definitions of the suspension $G$-spectrum as a spectral Mackey functor, we present a new perspective on spectral Mackey functors, viewing them as multifunctors on indexing categories for "r…
Equivariant complex $K$-theory and the equivariant sphere spectrum are two of the most fundamental equivariant spectra. For an odd $p$-group, we calculate the zeroth homotopy Green functor of the localization of the equivariant sphere spectrum with respect to equivariant complex $K$-theory. Further, we calculate the zeroth homotopy Tambara functor structure in the case of odd cyclic $p$-groups.
For $X$ a smooth scheme acted on by a linear algebraic group $G$ and $p$ a prime, the equivariant Chow ring $CH^*_G(X)\otimes \mathbb{F}_p$ is an unstable algebra over the Steenrod algebra. We compute Lannes's $T$-functor applied to $CH^*_G(X)\otimes \mathbb{F}_p$. As an application, we compute the localization of $CH^*_G(X)\otimes \mathbb{F}_p$ away from $n$-nilpotent modules over the Steenrod algebra, affirming a conjecture of Totaro as a special case. The case when $X$ is a point and $n = 1$ generalizes and recovers an algebro-geometric version of Quillen's stratification theorem proved by …
Let G be a general (not necessarily finite dimensional compact) Lie group, let g be its Lie algebra, let Cg be the cone on g in the category of differential graded Lie algebras, and consider the functor which assigns to a chain complex V the V-valued total de Rham complex of G. We describe the G-equivariant de Rham cohomology in terms of a suitable relative differential graded Ext, defined on the appropriate category of (G,Cg)-modules. The meaning of "relative" is made precise via the dual standard construction associated with the monad involving the aforementioned functor and the associated f…
We compute the spectrum of the category of derived Mackey functors (in the sense of Kaledin) for all finite groups. We find that this space captures precisely the top and bottom layers (i.e. the height infinity and height zero parts) of the spectrum of the equivariant stable homotopy category. Due to this truncation of the chromatic information, we are able to obtain a complete description of the spectrum for all finite groups, despite our incomplete knowledge of the topology of the spectrum of the equivariant stable homotopy category. From a different point of view, we show that the spectrum …
Let $G$ be a finite group. For a based $G$-space $X$ and a Mackey functor $M$, a topological Mackey functor $X\widetilde\otimes M$ is constructed, which will be called the stable equivariant abelianization of $X$ with coefficients in $M$. When $X$ is a based $G$-CW complex, $X\widetilde\otimes M$ is shown to be an infinite loop space in the sense of $\mathcal{G}$-spaces. This gives a version of the $RO(G)$-graded equivariant Dold-Thom theorem. Applying a variant of Elmendorf's construction, we get a model for the Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum $HM$. The proof uses a structure theorem for Mackey f…
In this paper we compute $RO(G)$-graded homotopy Mackey functors of $H\underline{\mathbb{Z}}$, the Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum of the constant Mackey functor of integers for cyclic p-groups and give a complete computation for $G = C_{p^2}$ . We also discuss homological algebra of $\underline{\mathbb{Z}}$-modules for cyclic $p$-groups, and interactions between these two. The goal of this paper is to understand various slice spectral sequences as $RO(G)$-graded spectral sequences of Mackey functors.
We enlarge the category of bornological coarse spaces by adding transfer morphisms and introduce the notion of an equivariant coarse homology theory with transfers. We then show that equivariant coarse algebraic $K$-homology and equivariant coarse ordinary homology can be extended to equivariant coarse homology theories with transfers. In the case of a finite group we observe that equivariant coarse homology theories with transfers provide Mackey functors. We express standard constructions with Mackey functors in terms of coarse geometry, and we demonstrate the usage of transfers in order to p…
We establish a novel approach to computing $G$-equivariant cohomology for a finite group $G$, and demonstrate it in the case that $G = C_{p^n}$. For any commutative ring spectrum $R$, we prove a symmetric monoidal reconstruction theorem for genuine $G$-$R$-modules, which records them in terms of their geometric fixedpoints as well as gluing maps involving their Tate cohomologies. This reconstruction theorem follows from a symmetric monoidal stratification (in the sense of \cite{AMR-strat}); here we identify the gluing functors of this stratification in terms of Tate cohomology. Passing from ge…
In this note we compare the fracture squares from genuine equivariant stable homotopy theory and the fracture squares which appear in the Goodwillie tower for the norm functor.
For a "genuine" equivariant commutative ring spectrum $R$, $π_0(R)$ admits a rich algebraic structure known as a Tambara functor. This algebraic structure mirrors the structure on $R$ arising from the existence of multiplicative norm maps. Motivated by the surprising fact that Bousfield localization can destroy some of the norm maps, in previous work we studied equivariant commutative ring structures parametrized by $N_\infty$ operads. In a precise sense, these interpolate between "naive" and "genuine" equivariant ring structures. In this paper, we describe the algebraic analogue of $N_\infty$…
In this note, we study equivariant versions of Stolz' $R$-groups, the positive scalar curvature structure groups $R^{\rm spin}_n(X)^G$, for proper actions of discrete groups $G$. We define the concept of a fundamental groupoid functor for a $G$-space, encapsulating all the fundamental group information of all the fixed point sets and their relations. We construct classifying spaces for fundamental groupoid functors. As a geometric result, we show that Stolz' equivariant $R$-group $R^{\rm spin}_n(X)^G$ depends only on the fundamental groupoid functor of the reference space $X$. The proof covers…
In this work we develop a cellular equivariant homology functor and apply it to prove an equivariant Euler-Poincare formula and an equivariant Lefschetz theorem.
We present an example of a homotopical localization functor which is not a localization with respect to any set of maps. Our example arises from equivariant homotopy theory. The technique of equivariant cellularization is developed and applied to the proof of the main result.
