This paper takes its starting point in an idea of Grothendieck on the representation of homotopy types.
We show that any locally finite nilpotent homotopy can be represented by a simplicial set which is a finitely generated free group in all degrees and whose maps are given by polynomials with rational coefficients. Such a simplicial set is in some sense a universal localisation/completion as all localisations and completions of the homotopy is easily contructed from it.
In particular relations with the Quillen and Sullivan approaches are presented.
When the theory is applied to the Eilenberg-MacLane space of a torsion free finitely generated nilpotent group a close relation to the the theory of Passi polynomial maps is obtained.
This paper proves that the functor $C(*)$ that sends pointed, simply-connected CW-complexes to their chain-complexes equipped with diagonals and iterated higher diagonals, determines their integral homotopy type --- even inducing an equivalence of categories between the category of CW-complexes up to homotopy equivalence and a certain category of chain-complexes equipped with higher diagonals. Consequently, $C(*)$ is an algebraic model for integral homotopy types similar to Quillen's model of rational homotopy types. For finite CW complexes, our model is finitely generated. Our result implies …
This article explains and extends semialgebraic homotopy theory (developed by H. Delfs and M. Knebusch) to o-minimal homotopy theory (over a field). The homotopy category of definable CW-complexes is equivalent to the homotopy category of topological CW-complexes (with continuous mappings). If the theory of the o-minimal expansion of a field is bounded, then these categories are equivalent to the homotopy category of weakly definable spaces. Similar facts hold for decreasing systems of spaces. As a result, generalized homology and cohomology theories on pointed weak polytopes uniquely correspo…
We prove that the derived category of $R$-linear representations of a finite group $G$ is stratified for any regular commutative ring $R$. As an application, we obtain a classification of localizing tensor ideals of ordinary $R$-linear $G$-representations whose underlying $R$-module is projective.
Quillen showed that simplicial sets form a model category (with appropriate choices of three classes of morphisms), which organized the homotopy theory of simplicial sets. His proof is very difficult and uses even the classification theory of principal bundles. Thus, Goerss-Jardine appealed to topological methods for the verification. In this paper we give a new proof of this organizing theorem of simplicial homotopy theory which is elementary in the sense that it does not use the classifying theory of principal bundles or appeal to topological methods.
We study the homotopical minimal periods for maps on infra-solvmanifolds of type (R) using the density of the homotopical minimal period set in the natural numbers. This extends the result of [10] from flat manifolds to infra-solvmanifolds of type (R). Applying our main result we will list all possible maps on infra-solvmanifolds up to dimension three for which the corresponding density is positive.
In this paper, we show that for every non-nilpotent hyperbolic map $f$ on an infra-nilmanifold, the $\textrm{HPer}(f)$ is cofinite in $\mathbb{N}$. This generalizes a similar result for expanding maps. Moreover, we prove that for every nilpotent map $f$ on an infra-nilmanifold, $\textrm{HPer}(f)=\{1\}$.
Configuration space integrals have in recent years been used for studying the cohomology of spaces of (string) knots and links in $\mathbb{R}^n$ for $n>3$ since they provide a map from a certain differential algebra of diagrams to the deRham complex of differential forms on the spaces of knots and links. We refine this construction so that it now applies to the space of homotopy string links -- the space of smooth maps of some number of copies of $\mathbb{R}$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with fixed behavior outside a compact set and such that the images of the copies of $\R$ are disjoint -- even for $n=3…
We construct cohomology classes in the space of knots by considering a bundle over this space and "integrating along the fiber" classes coming from the cohomology of configuration spaces using a Pontrjagin-Thom construction. The bundle we consider is essentially the one considered by Bott and Taubes, who integrated differential forms along the fiber to get knot invariants. By doing this "integration" homotopy-theoretically, we are able to produce integral cohomology classes. We then show how this integration is compatible with the homology operations on the space of long knots, as studied by B…
This paper is a generalization of arXiv:0810.0808. We develop the de Rham homotopy theory of not necessarily nilpotent spaces, using closed dg-categories and equivariant dg-algebras. We see these two algebraic objects correspond in a certain way. We prove an equivalence between the homotopy category of schematic homotopy types and a homotopy category of closed dg-categories. We give a description of homotopy invariants of spaces in terms of minimal models. The minimal model in this context behaves much like the Sullivan's minimal model. We also provide some examples. We prove an equivalence be…
We prove the existence of minimal models a la Sullivan for operads with non-trivial arity zero. So, up to homotopy algebras with strict units are just operad algebras over these minimal models. As an application we give another proof of the formality of the unitary n-little disks operad over the rationals.
We show that the rational homotopy type of the complement of a toric arrangement is completely determined by two sets of combinatorial data. This is obtained by introducing a differential graded algebra over Q whose minimal model is equivalent to the Sullivan minimal model of the arrangement.
If A is a homotopy cartesian square of ring spectra satisfying connectivity hypotheses, then the cube induced by Goodwillie's integral cyclotomic trace from K(A) to TC(A) is homotopy cartesian. In other words, the homotopy fiber of the cyclotomic trace satisfies excision. The method of proof gives as a spin-off new proofs of some old results, as well as some new results, about periodic cyclic homology, and - more relevantly for our current application - the T-Tate spectrum of topological Hochschild homology, where T is the circle group
Let X be a simply connected Riemannian manifold. Until now, quantitative topology has used Sullivan's rational homotopy theory as the bridge between geometric information on X and torsion-free homotopy theoretic information on X. In this paper we introduce Chen's iterated integrals on the based loop space of X as a new bridge between these two areas. We give two applications: finding upper bounds for Gromov's distortion of higher homotopy groups on X and also proving the non-existence of homologically non-trivial small-volume cycles in the space of loops on X of length at most L.
The goal of this paper is to reveal hidden structures on the singular cohomology and the Griffiths period integral of a smooth projective hypersurface in terms of BV(Batalin-Vilkovisky) algebras and homotopy Lie theory (so called, $L_\infty$-homotopy theory). Let $X_G$ be a smooth projective hypersurface in the complex projective space $\mathbf{P}^n$ defined by a homogeneous polynomial $G(\underline x)$ of degree $d \geq 1$. Let $\mathbb{H}=H^{n-1}_{\operatorname{prim}}(X_G, \mathbb{C})$ be the middle dimensional primitive cohomology of $X_G$. We explicitly construct a BV algebra $\mathbf{B\!\…
This work continues the study of a homotopy-theoretic construction of the author inspired by the Bott-Taubes integrals. Bott and Taubes constructed knot invariants by integrating differential forms along the fiber of a bundle over the space of knots. Their techniques were later used by Cattaneo et al. to construct real "Vassiliev-type" cohomology classes in spaces of knots in higher-dimensional Euclidean space. By doing this integration via a Pontrjagin-Thom construction, we constructed cohomology classes in the knot space with arbitrary coefficients. We later showed that a refinement of this …
We give a generalization of Fukaya's Morse homotopy theoretic approach for 2-loop Chern--Simons perturbation theory to 3-valent graphs with arbitrary number of loops at least 2. We construct a sequence of invariants of integral homology 3-spheres with values in a space of 3-valent graphs (Jacobi diagrams or Feynman diagrams) by counting graphs in an integral homology 3-sphere satisfying certain condition described by a set of ordinary differential equations.
We study configuration space integral formulas for Milnor's homotopy link invariants, showing that they are in correspondence with certain linear combinations of trivalent trees. Our proof is essentially a combinatorial analysis of a certain space of trivalent "homotopy link diagrams" which corresponds to all finite type homotopy link invariants via configuration space integrals. An important ingredient is the fact that configuration space integrals take the shuffle product of diagrams to the product of invariants. We ultimately deduce a partial recipe for writing explicit integral formulas fo…
Using the BV-formalism of mathematical physics an explicit construction for the minimal model of a quantum L-infinity-algebra is given as a formal super integral. The approach taken herein to these formal integrals is axiomatic; they can be approached using perturbation theory to obtain combinatorial formulae as shown in the appendix. Additionally, there exists a canonical differential graded Lie algebra morphism mapping formal functions on homology to formal functions on the whole space. An L-infinity-algebra morphism inverse to this differential graded Lie algebra morphism on the level of ho…
The notion of covering type was recently introduced by Karoubi and Weibel to measure the complexity of a topological space by means of good coverings. When X has the homotopy type of a finite CW-complex, its covering type coincides with the minimum possible number of vertices of a simplicial complex homotopy equivalent to X. In this article we compute the covering type of all closed surfaces. Our results completely settle a problem posed by Karoubi and Weibel, and shed more light on the relationship between the topology of surfaces and the number of vertices of minimal triangulations from a ho…
We develop an obstruction theory for homotopy of homomorphisms f,g : M -> N between minimal differential graded algebras. We assume that M = Lambda V has an obstruction decomposition given by V = V_0 oplus V_1 and that f and g are homotopic on Lambda V_0. An obstruction is then obtained as a vector space homomorphism V_1 -> H^*(N). We investigate the relationship between the condition that f and g are homotopic and the condition that the obstruction is zero. The obstruction theory is then applied to study the set of homotopy classes [M, N]. This enables us to give a fairly complete answer to a…
This paper is concerned with a minimal resolution of the PROP for bialgebras. We prove a theorem about the form of this resolution (Theorem 15) and give, in Section 5, a lot of explicit formulas for the differential. Our minimal model contains all information about the deformation theory of bialgebras and related cohomology. Algebras over this minimal model are strongly homotopy bialgebras, that is, homotopy invariant versions of bialgebras.
The purpose of this paper is to generalise Sullivan's rational homotopy theory to non-nilpotent spaces, providing an alternative approach to defining Toen's schematic homotopy types over any field k of characteristic zero. New features include an explicit description of homotopy groups using the Maurer-Cartan equations, convergent spectral sequences comparing schematic homotopy groups with cohomology of the universal semisimple local system, and a generalisation of the Baues-Lemaire conjecture. For compact Kaehler manifolds, the schematic homotopy groups can be described explicitly in terms of…
We develop a theory of minimal models for algebras over an operad defined over a commutative ring, not necessarily a field, extending and supplementing the work of Sagave in the associative case.
We introduce an explicit combinatorial characterization of the minimal model ${\cal O}_{\infty}$ of the coloured operad ${\cal O}$ encoding non-symmetric operads. In our description of ${\cal O}_{\infty}$, the spaces of operations are defined in terms of hypergraph polytopes and the composition structure generalizes the one of the $A_{\infty}$-operad. As further generalizations of this construction, we present a combinatorial description of the $W$-construction applied on ${\cal O}$, as well as of the minimal model of the coloured operad ${\cal C}$ encoding non-symmetric cyclic operads.
Let $G$ be a group and $R,S,T$ its normal subgroups. There is a natural extension of the concept of commutator subgroup for the case of three subgroups $\|R,S,T\|$ as well as the natural extension of the symmetric product $\|\bf r,\bf s,\bf t\|$ for corresponding ideals $\bf r,\bf s, \bf t$ in the integral group ring $\mathbb Z[G]$. In this paper, it is shown that the generalized dimension subgroup $G\cap (1+\|\bf r,\bf s,\bf t\|)$ has exponent 2 modulo $\|R,S,T\|.$ The proof essentially uses homotopy theory. The considered generalized dimension quotient of exponent 2 is identified with a subg…
We prove the existence of minimal models a la Sullivan for operads with nontrivial arity zero. So up-to-homotopy algebras with strict units are just operad algebras over these minimal models. As an application, we give another proof of the formality of the unitary n-little disks operad over the rationals.
We give a classification of minimal algebras generated in degree 1, defined over any field $\bk$ of characteristic different from 2, up to dimension 6. This recovers the classification of nilpotent Lie algebras over $\bk$ up to dimension 6. In the case of a field $\bk$ of characteristic zero, we obtain the classification of nilmanifolds of dimension less than or equal to 6, up to $\bk$-homotopy type. Finally, we determine which rational homotopy types of such nilmanifolds carry a symplectic structure.
We prove that the dual rational homotopy groups of the configuration spaces of a 1-connected manifold of dimension at least 3 are uniformly representation stable in the sense of Church, and that their derived dual integral homotopy groups are finitely-generated as FI-modules in the sense of Church-Ellenberg-Farb. This is a consequence of a more general theorem relating properties of the cohomology groups of a 1-connected co-FI-space to properties of its dual homotopy groups. We also discuss several other applications.
For $n\geq 2$ we compute the homotopy groups of $(n-1)$-connected closed manifolds of dimension $(2n+1)$. Away from the finite set of primes dividing the order of the torsion subgroup in homology, the $p$-local homotopy groups of $M$ are determined by the rank of the free Abelian part of the homology. Moreover, we show that these $p$-local homotopy groups can be expressed as a direct sum of $p$-local homotopy groups of spheres. The integral homotopy type of the loop space is also computed and shown to depend only on the rank of the free Abelian part and the torsion subgroup.
We show a Gottlieb element in the rational homotopy of a simply connected space $X$ implies a structural result for the Sullivan minimal model, with different results depending on parity. In the even-degree case, we prove a rational Gottlieb element is a terminal homotopy element. This fact allows us to complete an argument of Dupont to prove an even-degree Gottlieb element gives a free factor in the rational cohomology of a formal space of finite type. We apply the odd-degree result to affirm a special case of the $2N$-conjecture on Gottlieb elements of a finite complex. We combine our result…
We show that the integral cohomology rings of the moduli spaces of stable rational marked curves are Koszul. This answers an open question of Manin. Using the machinery of Koszul spaces developed by Berglund, we compute the rational homotopy Lie algebras of those spaces, and obtain some estimates for Betti numbers of their free loop spaces in case of torsion coefficients. We also prove and conjecture some generalisations of our main result.
We prove that the simplicial cocommutative coalgebra of singular chains on a connected topological space determines the homotopy type rationally and one prime at a time, without imposing any restriction on the fundamental group. In particular, the fundamental group and the homology groups with coefficients in arbitrary local systems of vector spaces are completely determined by the natural algebraic structure of the chains. The algebraic structure is presented as the class of the simplicial cocommutative coalgebra of chains under a notion of weak equivalence induced by a functor from coalgebra…
Due to the deep work of Tillmann, Madsen, Weiss and Galatius, the cohomology of the stable mapping class group $\gaminf$ is known with rational or finite field coefficients. Little is known about the integral cohomology. In this paper, we study the first four cohomology groups. Also, we compute the first few steps of the Postnikov tower of $B \gaminf^+$, the Quillen plus construction applied to $B \gaminf$. Our method relies on the Madsen-Weiss theorem, a few known computations of stable homotopy groups of spheres and projective spaces and on a certain action of the binary icosahedral group on…
The covering type of a space $X$ is defined as the minimal cardinality of a good cover of a space that is homotopy equivalent to $X$. We derive estimates for the covering type of $X$ in terms of other invariants of $X$, namely the ranks of the homology groups, the multiplicative structure of the cohomology ring and the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of $X$. By relating the covering type to the number of vertices of minimal triangulations of complexes and combinatorial manifolds, we obtain, within a unified framework, several estimates which are either new or extensions of results that have be…
We characterize the smallest finite spaces with the same homotopy groups of the spheres. Similarly, we describe the minimal finite models of any finite graph. We also develop new combinatorial techniques based on finite spaces to study classical invariants of general topological spaces.
We show that a uniform probability measure supported on a specific set of piecewise linear loops in a non-trivial free homotopy class in a multi-punctured plane is overwhelmingly concentrated around loops of minimal lengths. Our approach is based on extending Mogulskii's theorem to closed paths, which is a useful result of independent interest. In addition, we show that the above measure can be sampled using standard Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques, thus providing a simple methods for approximating shortest loops.
We generalize results of Hattori on the topology of complements of hyperplane arrangements, from the class of generic arrangements, to the much broader class of hypersolvable arrangements. We show that the higher homotopy groups of the complement vanish in a certain combinatorially determined range, and we give an explicit Zπ_1-module presentation of π_p, the first non-vanishing higher homotopy group. We also give a combinatorial formula for the π_1-coinvariants of π_p. For affine line arrangements whose cones are hypersolvable, we provide a minimal resolution of π_2, and study some of the pro…
We study topological spaces with a distinguished set of paths, called directed paths. Since these directed paths are generally not reversible, the directed homotopy classes of directed paths do not assemble into a groupoid, and there is no direct analog of the fundamental group. However, they do assemble into a category, called the fundamental category. We define models of the fundamental category, such as the fundamental bipartite graph, and minimal extremal models which are shown to generalize the fundamental group. In addition, we prove van Kampen theorems for subcategories, retracts, and m…
For a simply connected CW-complex $X$, let $\mathcal{E}(X)$ denote the group of homotopy classes of self-homotopy equivalence of $X$ and let $\mathcal{E}_{\sharp}(X)$ be its subgroup of homotopy classes which induce the identity on homotopy groups. As we know, the quotient group $\frac{\mathcal{E}(X)}{\mathcal{E}_{\sharp}(X)}$ can be identified with a subgroup of $Aut(π_{*}(X))$. The aim of this work is to determine this subgroup for rational spaces. We construct the Whitehead exact sequence associated with the minimal Sullivan model of $X$ which allows us to define the subgroup $\mathrm{Coh.A…
We examine the relation between the gauge groups of $\mathrm{SU}(n)$- and $\mathrm{PU}(n)$-bundles over $S^{2i}$, with $2\leq i\leq n$, particularly when $n$ is a prime. As special cases, for $\mathrm{PU}(5)$-bundles over $S^4$, we show that there is a rational or $p$-local equivalence $\mathcal{G}_{2,k}\simeq_{(p)}\mathcal{G}_{2,l}$ for any prime $p$ if, and only if, $(120,k)=(120,l)$, while for $\mathrm{PU}(3)$-bundles over $S^6$ there is an integral equivalence $\mathcal{G}_{3,k}\simeq\mathcal{G}_{3,l}$ if, and only if, $(120,k)=(120,l)$.
