We consider four categories: the category of diagrams of small categories indexed by a given small category O, the (comma) category of small categories over O, the category of diagrams of simplicial sets indexed by O, and the category of simplicial sets over the nerve of O. Fritsch and Golasinski claimed that these four categories have equivalent homotopy categories but, in fact, their proof contains an error and the homotopy categories are not equivalent with the weak equivalences they use in the comma categories. We show here that the correct weak equivalences are the ``weak fibre homotopy equivalences'' defined by Latch. We also construct a model category structure on the category of simplicial sets over NO in which the weak equivalences are the weak fibre homotopy equivalences.
Associated to each small category $C$, there is a category of $C$-shaped diagrams of simplicial sets and an $\infty$-category of $NC$-shaped homotopy coherent diagrams of spaces. We present a functor which exhibits the latter as the $\infty$-categorical localisation of the former at the objectwise weak homotopy equivalences. This builds on a Quillen equivalence between the projective and covariant model structures associated to $C$ due to Heuts-Moerdijk, as well as Cisinski's theory of $\infty$-categorical localisations. We use the localisation functor to give simplified proofs that the left (…
The most natural notion of a simplicial nerve for a (weak) bicategory was given by Duskin, who showed that a simplicial set is isomorphic to the nerve of a $(2,1)$-category (i.e. a bicategory with invertible $2$-morphisms) if and only if it is a quasicategory which has unique fillers for inner horns of dimension $3$ and greater. Using Duskin's technique, we show how his nerve applies to $(2,1)$-category functors, making it a fully faithful inclusion of $(2,1)$-categories into simplicial sets. Then we consider analogues of this extension of Duskin's result for several different two-dimensional …
This paper is the second in a series of two papers about generalizing Quillen's Theorem A to strict $\infty$-categories. In the first one, we presented a proof of this Theorem A of a simplicial nature, direct but somewhat ad hoc. In the current paper, we give a conceptual proof of an $\infty$-categorical nature of the same theorem. This proof is based on the theory of join and slices for strict $\infty$-categories developed by the authors in a previous paper, and on a comma construction for strict $\infty$-categories generalizing classical comma categories and Gray's comma 2-categories. This $…
A group completion functor Q is constructed in the category of algebras in simplicial sets over a cofibrant E_n-operad M. It is shown that Q defines a Bousfield-Friedander simplicial model category on M-algebras.
The aim of this paper is to prove a generalization of the famous Theorem A of Quillen for strict $\infty$-categories. This result is central to the homotopy theory of strict $\infty$-categories developed by the authors. The proof presented here is of a simplicial nature and uses Steiner's theory of augmented directed complexes. In a subsequent paper, we will prove the same result by purely $\infty$-categorical methods.
Both simplicial sets and simplicial spaces are used pervasively in homotopy theory as presentations of spaces, where in both cases we extract the "underlying space" by taking geometric realization. We have a good handle on the category of simplicial sets in this capacity; this is due to the existence of a suitable model structure thereon, which is particularly convenient to work with since it enjoys the technical properties of being *proper* and of being *cofibrantly generated*. This paper is devoted to showing that, if one is willing to work $\infty$-categorically, then one can manipulate sim…
Our aim is to compare three nerve functors for strict $n$-categories: the Street nerve, the cellular nerve and the multi-simplicial nerve. We show that these three functors are equivalent in some appropriate sense. In particular, the classes of $n$-categorical weak equivalences that they define coincide: they are the Thomason equivalences. We give two applications of this result: the first one states that a Dyer-Kan-type equivalence for Thomason equivalences is a Thomason equivalence; the second one, fundamental, is the stability of the class of Thomason equivalences under the dualities of the…
We describe the moduli space of extensions in the model category of simplicial presheaves. This article can be seen as a generalization of Blomgren-Chacholski results in the case of simplicial sets. Our description of the moduli space of extensions treat the equivariant and the nonequivariant case in the same setting. As a new result, we describe the moduli space of M-bundles over a fixed space X, when M is a simplicial monoid. Moreover, the moduli space of M-bundles is classified by the classifying space of the simplicial submonoid generated by homotopy invertible elements of M. We give a gen…
This document is centered around a main idea: simplicial categories, by which we mean simplicial objects in the category of categories, can be treated as a two-fold categorical structure and their double category theory is homotopically meaningful. The most well-known two-fold structures are double categories, typically used to organize bimodules in various contexts. However there is no double category of spaces even though notions of bimodule are conceivable. We first remedy this defect of double category theory by constructing a meaningful simplicial category of spaces. Then we develop the a…
We establish a large class of homotopy coherent Morita-equivalences of Dold-Kan type relating diagrams with values in any weakly idempotent complete additive $\infty$-category; the guiding example is an $\infty$-categorical Dold-Kan correspondence between the $\infty$-categories of simplicial objects and connective coherent chain complexes. Our results generalize many known 1-categorical equivalences such as the classical Dold-Kan correspondence, Pirashvili's Dold-Kan type theorem for abelian $Γ$-groups and, more generally, the combinatorial categorical equivalences of Lack and Street.
The data of a physical experiment can be represented as a presheaf of probability distributions. A striking feature of quantum theory is that those probability distributions obtained in quantum mechanical experiments do not always admit a joint probability distribution, a celebrated observation due to Bell. Such distributions are called contextual. Simplicial distributions are combinatorial models that extend presheaves of probability distributions by elevating sets of measurements and outcomes to spaces. Contextuality can be defined in this generalized setting. This paper introduces the notio…
We quiver-interpret the classical simplicial theory - including the cosimplex category $Δ$, Dold-Kan correspondence, and Hochschild homology - as a certain Q-homotopy theory of type $A$. For the cyclic and cubical theories, we proceed analogously. Subsequently, we present far-reaching generalizations, using different types of quivers. Moreover, we explain how to construct certain categories as analogs of $Δ$, and associate to each a Q-homotopy theory. We provide many examples, including such theories of type $D$.
We give a new construction of the Joyal model structure on the category of simplicial sets, and we provide a simple characterization of the fibrations in it. We characterize the inner anodyne maps in terms of categorical equivalences and use this characterization to establish the inner model structure on the category of simplicial sets whose set of zero-simplices is equal to a fixed set $O$.
In this paper we prove that various quasi-categories whose objects are $\infty$-categories in a very general sense are complete: admitting limits indexed by all simplicial sets. This result and others of a similar flavor follow from a general theorem in which we characterize the data that is required to define a limit cone in a quasi-category constructed as a homotopy coherent nerve. Since all quasi-categories arise this way up to equivalence, this analysis covers the general case. Namely, we show that quasi-categorical limit cones may be modeled at the point-set level by pseudo homotopy limit…
For a small category A, we prove that the homotopy colimit functor from the category of simplicial diagrams on A to the category of simplicial sets over the nerve of A establishes a left Quillen equivalence between the projective (or Reedy) model structure on the former category and the covariant model structure on the latter. We compare this equivalence to a Quillen equivalence in the opposite direction previously established by Lurie. From our results we deduce that a categorical equivalence of simplicial sets induces a Quillen equivalence on the corresponding over-categories, equipped with …
We give an example of a morphism of simplicial sets which is a monomorphism, bijective on 0-simplices, and a weak categorical equivalence, but which is not inner anodyne. This answers an open question of Joyal. Furthermore, we use this morphism to refute a plausible description of the class of fibrations in Joyal's model structure for quasi-categories.
Semi-abelian and finitely cocomplete homological categories are characterized in terms of four resp. three simple axioms, in terms of the basic categorical notions introduced in the first few chapters of MacLane's classical book. As an immediate application we show that categories of diagrams in semi-abelian and similar categories are of the same type; in particular, the category of simplicial or Γ-objects in a semi-abelian category is semi-abelian.
Any tricategory characteristically has associated various simplicial or pseudo-simplicial objects. This paper explores the relationship amongst three of them: the pseudo-simplicial bicategory so-called Grothendieck nerve of the tricategory, the simplicial bicategory termed its Segal nerve, and the simplicial set called its Street geometric nerve, and it proves the fact that the geometric realizations of all of these possible candidate 'nerves of the tricategory' are homotopy equivalent. Our results provide coherence for all reasonable extensions to tricategories of Quillen's definition of the …
We argue for the addition of category theory to the toolkit of toric topology, by surveying recent examples and applications. Our case is made in terms of toric spaces X_K, such as moment-angle complexes Z_K, quasitoric manifolds M, and Davis-Januszkiewicz spaces DJ(K). We first exhibit X_K as the homotopy colimit of a diagram of spaces over the small category cat(K), whose objects are the faces of a finite simplicial complex K and morphisms their inclusions. Then we study the corresponding cat(K)-diagrams in various algebraic Quillen model categories, and interpret their homotopy colimits as …
The aim of this thesis is to give a concise introduction to homotopy type theory, to Aczel's constructive set theory and to simplicial sets and their homotopy theory in particular referring to their standard model structure, showing some of their interactions. The original part of this thesis consists in the final chapter where we introduce in the type theoretic context a definition of weak Tarski universe motivated by categorical models like the one given by simplicial sets. The weakening of this notion, although present in some imprecise form in mathematical folklore was not published before…
This paper gives an introduction to homotopy descent, and its applications in algebraic $K$-theory computations for fields. On the étale site of a field, a fibrant model of a simplicial presheaf can be constructed from naive Galois cohomological objects given by homotopy fixed point constructions, but only up to pro-equivalence. The homotopy fixed point spaces define finite Galois descent for simplicial presheaves (and their relatives) over a field, but a pro-categorical construction is a necessary second step for passage from finite descent conditions to full homotopy descent in a Galois coho…
In this paper, we introduce a cofibrant simplicial category that we call the free homotopy coherent adjunction and characterize its n-arrows using a graphical calculus that we develop here. The hom-spaces are appropriately fibrant, indeed are nerves of categories, which indicates that all of the expected coherence equations in each dimension are present. To justify our terminology, we prove that any adjunction of quasi-categories extends to a homotopy coherent adjunction and furthermore that these extensions are homotopically unique in the sense that the relevant spaces of extensions are contr…
We introduce a notion of "weak model category" which is a weakening of the notion of Quillen model category, still sufficient to define a homotopy category, Quillen adjunctions, Quillen equivalences and most of the usual construction of categorical homotopy theory. Both left and right semi-model categories are weak model categories, and the opposite of a weak model category is again a weak model category. The main advantages of weak model categories is that they are easier to construct than Quillen model categories. In particular we give some simple criteria on two weak factorization systems f…
The goal of this paper is to prove an equivalence between the model categorical approach to pro-categories, as studied by Isaksen, Schlank and the first author, and the $\infty$-categorical approach, as developed by Lurie. Three applications of our main result are described. In the first application we use (a dual version of) our main result to give sufficient conditions on an $ω$-combinatorial model category, which insure that its underlying $\infty$-category is $ω$-presentable. In the second application we consider the pro-category of simplicial étale sheaves and use it to show that the topo…
Inspired by recent work of Batanin and Berger on the homotopy theory of operads, a general monad-theoretic context for speaking about structures within structures is presented, and the problem of constructing the universal ambient structure containing the prescribed internal structure is studied. Following the work of Lack, these universal objects must be constructed from simplicial objects arising from our monad-theoretic framework, as certain 2-categorical colimits called codescent objects. We isolate the extra structure present on these simplicial objects which enable their codescent object…
In this paper we redevelop the foundations of the category theory of quasi-categories (also called infinity-categories) using 2-category theory. We show that Joyal's strict 2-category of quasi-categories admits certain weak 2-limits, among them weak comma objects. We use these comma quasi-categories to encode universal properties relevant to limits, colimits, and adjunctions and prove the expected theorems relating these notions. These universal properties have an alternate form as absolute lifting diagrams in the 2-category, which we show are determined pointwise by the existence of certain i…
We prove a rectification theorem for enriched infinity-categories: If V is a nice monoidal model category, we show that the homotopy theory of infinity-categories enriched in V is equivalent to the familiar homotopy theory of categories strictly enriched in V. It follows, for example, that infinity-categories enriched in spectra or chain complexes are equivalent to spectral categories and dg-categories. A similar method gives a comparison result for enriched Segal categories, which implies that the homotopy theories of n-categories and (infinity,n)-categories defined by iterated infinity-categ…
In this paper we give a new foundational, categorical formulation for operations and relations and objects parameterizing them. This generalizes and unifies the theory of operads and all their cousins including but not limited to PROPs, modular operads, twisted (modular) operads, properads, hyperoperads, their colored versions, as well as algebras over operads and an abundance of other related structures, such as crossed simplicial groups, the augmented simplicial category or FI--modules. The usefulness of this approach is that it allows us to handle all the classical as well as more esoteric …
For a given group $G$ and a collection of subgroups $\mathcal F$ of $G$, we show that there exist a left induced model structure on the category of right $G$-simplicial sets, in which the weak equivalences and cofibrations are the maps that induce weak equivalences and cofibrations on the $H$-orbits for all $H$ in $\mathcal F$. This gives a model categorical criterion for maps that induce weak equivalences on $H$-orbits to be weak equivalences in the $\mathcal F$-model structure.
We prove an h-principle with boundary condition for a certain class of topological spaces valued sheaves. The techniques used in the proof come from the study of the homotopy type of the cobordism categories, and they are of simplicial and categorical nature. Applying the main result of this paper to a certain sheaf we find another proof of the Madsen-Weiss theorem, that describes the homotopy type of the classifying space of the cobordism category as the loop space of the Thom space of the complement of the tautological bundle over the Grassmannians.
In his paper "Théories homotopiques des 2-catégories", Jonathan Chiche studies homotopy theories on 2-Cat, the category of small strict 2-categories, given by classes of weak equivalences which he calls basic localizers of 2-Cat. These basic localizers of 2-Cat are a 2-categorical generalization of the notion of a basic localizer introduced by Grothendieck in "Pursuing stacks". In this paper, we deduce from the results of Jonathan Chiche and results we have obtained with Georges Maltsiniotis that for essentially every basic localizer W of 2-Cat, there exists a model category structure à la Tho…
We study four types of (co)cartesian fibrations of $\infty$-bicategories over a given base $\mathcal{B}$, and prove that they encode the four variance flavors of $\mathcal{B}$-indexed diagrams of $\infty$-categories. We then use this machinery to set up a general theory of 2-(co)limits for diagrams valued in an $\infty$-bicategory, capable of expressing lax, weighted and pseudo limits. When the $\infty$-bicategory at hand arises from a model category tensored over marked simplicial sets, we show that this notion of 2-(co)limit can be calculated as a suitable form of a weighted homotopy limit o…
This paper is the first in a series of two papers, $\mathbf{Z}$-Categories I and $\mathbf{Z}$-Categories II, which develop the notion of $\mathbf{Z}$-category, the natural bi-infinite analog to strict $ω$-categories, and show that the $\left(\infty,1\right)$-category of spectra relates to the $\left(\infty,1\right)$-category of homotopy coherent $\mathbf{Z}$-categories as the pointed groupoids. In this work we provide a $2$-categorical treatment of the combinatorial spectra of \cite{Kan} and argue that this description is a simplicial avatar of the abiding notion of homotopy coherent $\mathbf{…
Consider a diagram of quasi-categories that admit and functors that preserve limits or colimits of a fixed shape. We show that any weighted limit whose weight is a projective cofibrant simplicial functor is again a quasi-category admitting these (co)limits and that they are preserved by the functors in the limit cone. In particular, the Bousfield-Kan homotopy limit of a diagram of quasi-categories admit any limits or colimits existing in and preserved by the functors in that diagram. In previous work, we demonstrated that the quasi-category of algebras for a homotopy coherent monad could be de…
We study a categorical construction called the cobordism category, which associates to each Waldhausen category a simplicial category of cospans. We prove that this construction is homotopy equivalent to Waldhausen's $S_{\bullet}$-construction and therefore it defines a model for Waldhausen $K$-theory. As an example, we discuss this model for $A$-theory and show that the cobordism category of homotopy finite spaces has the homotopy type of Waldhausen's $A(*)$. We also review the canonical map from the cobordism category of manifolds to $A$-theory from this viewpoint.
We use the terms $\infty$-categories and $\infty$-functors to mean the objects and morphisms in an $\infty$-cosmos: a simplicially enriched category satisfying a few axioms, reminiscent of an enriched category of fibrant objects. Quasi-categories, Segal categories, complete Segal spaces, marked simplicial sets, iterated complete Segal spaces, $θ_n$-spaces, and fibered versions of each of these are all $\infty$-categories in this sense. Previous work in this series shows that the basic category theory of $\infty$-categories and $\infty$-functors can be developed only in reference to the axioms …
Triangulated categories arising in algebra can often be described as the homotopy category of a pretriangulated dg-category, a category enriched in chain complexes with a natural notion of shifts and cones that is accessible with all the machinery of homological algebra. Dg-categories are algebraic models of $\infty$-categories and thus fit into a wide ecosystem of higher-categorical models and translations between them. In this paper we describe an equivalence between two methods to turn a pretriangulated dg-category into a quasicategory. The dg-nerve of a dg-category is a quasicategory whose…
This is the first of a series of papers devoted to lay the foundations of Algebraic Geometry in homotopical and higher categorical contexts (for part II, see math.AG/0404373). In this first part we investigate a notion of higher topos. For this, we use S-categories (i.e. simplicially enriched categories) as models for certain kind of \infty-categories, and we develop the notions of S-topologies, S-sites and stacks over them. We prove in particular, that for an S-category T endowed with an S-topology, there exists a model category of stacks over T, generalizing the model category structure on s…
