For smooth finite dimensional manifolds, we characterise gerbes with connection as functors on a certain surface cobordism category. This allows us to relate gerbes with connection to Turaev's 1+1-dimensional homotopy quantum field theories, and we show that flat gerbes are related to a specific class of rank one homotopy quantum field theories.
Gerbes are locally connected presheaves of groupoids. They are classified up to local weak equivalence by path components in a 2-cocycle category taking values in all sheaves of groups, their isomorphisms and homotopies. If F is a full presheaf of sheaves of groups, isomorphisms and homotopies, then [*,BF] is isomorphic to equivalence classes of gerbes locally equivalent to groups appearing in F. Giraud's non-abelian cohomology object of equivalence classes of gerbes with band L is isomorphic to morphisms in the homotopy category from the point * to the homotopy fibre over L for a map defined …
Given a family of Dirac operators with vanishing spectral flow we construct a thin-invariant rank-one field theory in the sense of Turner and Willerton arXiv:math.AT/0201116. Our construction of the field theory generalizes the one of the index gerbe by Lott, arXiv:math.DG/0106177, and it also complements the relation between gerbes and thin-invariant rank-one field theories studied in arXive:math.AT/0201116.
We prove that the parallel transport of a flat $n-1$-gerbe on any given target space gives rise to an $n$-dimensional extended homotopy quantum field theory. In case the target space is the classifying space of a finite group, we provide explicit formulae for this homotopy quantum field theory in terms of transgression. Moreover, we use the geometric theory of orbifolds to give a dimension-independent version of twisted and equivariant Dijkgraaf-Witten models. Finally, we introduce twisted equivariant Dijkgraaf-Witten theories giving us in the 3-2-1-dimensional case a new class of equivariant …
In this paper we establish a one-to-one correspondence between $S^1$-gerbes with connections, on the one hand, and their holonomies, for simply connected manifolds, or their parallel transports, in the general case, on the other hand. This result is a higher-order analogue of the familiar equivalence between bundles with connections and their holonomies for connected manifolds. The holonomy of a gerbe with group $S^1$ on a simply connected manifold $M$ is a group morphism from the thin second homotopy group to $S^1$, satisfying a smoothness condition, where a homotopy between maps from $[0,1]^…
In this short note we provide a review of some developments in the area of homotopy quantum field theories, loosely based on a talk given by the second author at the Xth Oporto Meeting on Geometry, Topology and Physics.
We define Homotopy quantum field theories (HQFT) as Topological quantum field theories (TQFT) for manifolds endowed with extra structure in the form of a map into some background space X. We also build the category of homotopy cobordisms HCobord(n,X) such that an HQFT is a functor from this category into a category of linear spaces. We then derive some very general properties of HCobord}(n,X), including the fact that it only depends on the (n+1)-homotopy type of X. We also prove that an HQFT with target space X and in dimension n+1 implies the existence of geometrical structures in X; in parti…
We study bundle gerbes on manifolds $M$ that carry an action of a connected Lie group $G$. We show that these data give rise to a smooth 2-group extension of $G$ by the smooth 2-group of hermitean line bundles on $M$. This 2-group extension classifies equivariant structures on the bundle gerbe, and its non-triviality poses an obstruction to the existence of equivariant structures. We present a new global approach to the parallel transport of a bundle gerbe with connection, and use it to give an alternative construction of this smooth 2-group extension in terms of a homotopy-coherent version of…
Given a finite $\mathbb{Z}_2$-graded group $\hat{\mathsf{G}}$ with ungraded subgroup $\mathsf{G}$ and a twisted cocycle $\hatλ \in Z^n(B \hat{\mathsf{G}}; \mathsf{U}(1)_π)$ which restricts to $λ\in Z^n(B \mathsf{G}; \mathsf{U}(1))$, we construct a lift of $λ$-twisted $\mathsf{G}$-Dijkgraaf--Witten theory to an unoriented topological quantum field theory. Our construction uses a new class of homotopy field theories, which we call orientation twisted. We also introduce an orientation twisted variant of the orbifold procedure, which produces an unoriented topological field theory from an orientat…
This paper generalizes Bismut's equivariant Chern character to the setting of abelian gerbes. In particular, associated to an abelian gerbe with connection, an equivariantly closed differential form is constructed on the space of maps of a torus into the manifold. These constructions are made explicit using a new local version of the higher Hochschild complex, resulting in differential forms given by iterated integrals. Connections to two dimensional topological field theories are indicated. Similarly, this local higher Hochschild complex is used to calculate the 2-holonomy of an abelian gerbe…
In this paper we extend Toën's derived Hall algebra construction, in which he obtains unital associative algebras from certain stable model categories, to one in which such algebras are obtained from more general stable homotopy theories, in particular stable complete Segal spaces satisfying appropriate finiteness assumptions.
In previous work, the first author defined homotopy theories for stratified spaces from a simplicial and a topological perspective. In both frameworks stratified weak-equivalences are detected by suitable generalizations of homotopy links. These two frameworks are connected through a stratified version of the classical adjunction between the realization and the functor of singular simplices. Using a modified version of this adjunction, the first author showed that over a fixed poset of strata the two homotopy theories were equivalent. Building on this result we now show that the unmodified adj…
We prove that the homotopy theory of cofibration categories is equivalent to the homotopy theory of cocomplete quasicategories. This is achieved by presenting both homotopy theories as fibration categories and constructing an explicit equivalence between them.
In this paper, we discuss two topics: first, we show how to convert 1+1-topological quantum field theories valued in symmetric bimonoidal categories into stable homotopical data, using a machinery by Elmendorf and Mandell. Then, we discuss, in this framework, two recent results (independent of each other) on refinements of Khovanov homology: our refinement into a module over the connective k-theory spectrum and a stronger result by Lipshitz and Sarkar refining Khovanov homology into a stable homotopy type.
These notes are from a series of lectures given at the Workshop on the Homotopy Theory of Homotopy Theories which took place in Caesarea, Israel, in May 2010. The workshop was organized by David Blanc, Emmanuel Farjoun, and David Kazhdan, and talks not indicated otherwise were given by the author.
We give a description of the delocalized twisted cohomology of an orbifold and the Chern character of a twisted vector bundle in terms of supersymmetric Euclidean field theories. This includes the construction of a twist functor for $1|1$-dimensional EFTs from the data of a gerbe with connection.
Given an appropriate diagram of left Quillen functors between model categories, one can define a notion of homotopy fiber product, but one might ask if it is really the correct one. Here, we show that this homotopy pullback is well-behaved with respect to translating it into the setting of more general homotopy theories, given by complete Segal spaces, where we have well-defined homotopy pullbacks.
We lift Charles Rezk's complete Segal space model structure on the category of simplicial spaces to a Quillen equivalent one on the category of relative categories.
Generalizing a definition of homotopy fiber products of model categories, we give a definition of the homotopy limit of a diagram of left Quillen functors between model categories. As has been previously shown for homotopy fiber products, we prove that such a homotopy limit does in fact correspond to the usual homotopy limit, when we work in a more general model for homotopy theories in which they can be regarded as objects of a model category.
We promote geometric prequantization to higher geometry (higher stacks), where a prequantization is given by a higher principal connection (a higher gerbe with connection). We show fairly generally how there is canonically a tower of higher gauge groupoids and Courant groupoids assigned to a higher prequantization, and establish the corresponding Atiyah sequence as an integrated Kostant-Souriau infinity-group extension of higher Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms by higher quantomorphisms. We also exhibit the infinity-group cocycle which classifies this extension and discuss how its restrictions a…
Given any model category, or more generally any category with weak equivalences, its simplicial localization is a simplicial category which can rightfully be called the "homotopy theory" of the model category. There is a model category structure on the category of simplicial categories, so taking its simplicial localization yields a "homotopy theory of homotopy theories." In this paper we show that there are two different categories of diagrams of simplicial sets, each equipped with an appropriate definition of weak equivalence, such that the resulting homotopy theories are each equivalent to …
Given a small category C, we show that there is a universal way of expanding C into a model category, essentially by formally adjoining homotopy colimits. The technique of localization becomes a method for imposing `relations' into these universal gadgets. The paper develops this formalism and discusses various applications, for instance to the study of homotopy colimits, the Dwyer-Kan theory of framings, and to the homotopy theory of schemes.
We show that a derivator is stable if and only if homotopy finite limits and homotopy finite colimits commute, if and only if homotopy finite limit functors have right adjoints, and if and only if homotopy finite colimit functors have left adjoints. These characterizations generalize to an abstract notion of "stability relative to a class of functors", which includes in particular pointedness, semiadditivity, and ordinary stability. To prove them, we develop the theory of derivators enriched over monoidal left derivators and weighted homotopy limits and colimits therein.
We extend the homotopy theories based on point reduction for finite spaces and simplicial complexes to finite acyclic categories and $Δ$-complexes, respectively. The functors of classifying spaces and face posets are compatible with these homotopy theories. In contrast with the classical settings of finite spaces and simplicial complexes, the universality of morphisms and simplices plays a central role in this paper.
We show that each of the three $K$-theory multifunctors from small permutative categories to $\mathcal{G}_*$-categories, $\mathcal{G}_*$-simplicial sets, and connective spectra, is an equivalence of homotopy theories. For each of these $K$-theory multifunctors, we describe an explicit homotopy inverse functor. As a separate application of our general results about pointed diagram categories, we observe that the right-induced homotopy theory of Bohmann-Osorno $\mathcal{E}_*$-categories is equivalent to the homotopy theory of pointed simplicial categories.
We describe a category, the objects of which may be viewed as models for homotopy theories. We show that for such models, ``functors between two homotopy theories form a homotopy theory'', or more precisely that the category of such models has a well-behaved internal hom-object.
In the present paper we study bundles equipped with extra homotopy conditions, in particular so-called simplicial $n$-bundles. It is shown that (under some condition) the classifying space of 1-bundles is the double coset space of some finite dimensional Lie group. We also establish some relation between our bundles and C*-algebras.
We introduce, for every positive integer n, the notion of an n-relative category and show that the category of the small n-relative categories is a model for the homotopy theory of n-fold homotopy theories, i.e. homotopy theories of ... of homotopy theories.
An algebraic theory $T$ is a category with objects $t_0,t_2...$ such that for each $n$ the object $t_n$ is an $n$-fold categorical product of $t_1$. A strict $T$-algebra is a product preserving functor $A: T\to Spaces$. Lawvere showed that for a suitable choice of T giving such an algebra amounts to providing the space $A(t_1)$ with a familiar structure of a monoid group, ring, Lie algebra... Given a functor $X: T\to Spaces$ which preserves products up to a weak equivalence we show that $X$ is more or less canonically weakly equivalent to a strict $T$-algebra $LX$. Thus any `homotopy' algebrai…
In this paper we prove results relating to two homotopy relations and four homology theories developed in the topology of digital images. We introduce a new type of homotopy relation for digitally continuous functions which we call "strong homotopy." Both digital homotopy and strong homotopy are natural digitizations of classical topological homotopy: the difference between them is analogous to the difference between digital 4-adjacency and 8-adjacency in the plane. We also consider four different digital homology theories: a simplicial homology theory by Arslan et al which is the homology of …
We propose an axiomatic characterization of coarse homology theories defined on the category of bornological coarse spaces. We construct a category of motivic coarse spectra. Our focus is the classification of coarse homology theories and the construction of examples. We show that if a transformation between coarse homology theories induces an equivalence on all discrete bornological coarse spaces, then it is an equivalence on bornological coarse spaces of finite asymptotic dimension. The example of coarse K-homology will be discussed in detail.
In this paper we establish new characterizations of stable derivators, thereby obtaining additional interpretations of the passage from (pointed) topological spaces to spectra and, more generally, of the stabilization. We show that a derivator is stable if and only if homotopy finite limits and homotopy finite colimits commute, and there are variants for sufficiently finite Kan extensions. As an additional reformulation, a derivator is stable if and only if it admits a zero object and if partial cone and partial fiber morphisms commute on squares.
Constructions of spectra from symmetric monoidal categories are typically functorial with respect to strict structure-preserving maps, but often the maps of interest are merely lax monoidal. We describe conditions under which one can transport the weak equivalences from one category to another with the same objects and a broader class of maps. Under mild hypotheses this process produces an equivalence of homotopy theories. We describe examples including algebras over an operad, such as symmetric monoidal categories and $n$-fold monoidal categories; and diagram categories, such as $Γ$-categorie…
Motivated by gauge theory, we develop a general framework for chain complex valued algebraic quantum field theories. Building upon our recent operadic approach to this subject, we show that the category of such theories carries a canonical model structure and explain the important conceptual and also practical consequences of this result. As a concrete application we provide a derived version of Fredenhagen's universal algebra construction, which is relevant e.g. for the BRST/BV formalism. We further develop a homotopy theoretical generalization of algebraic quantum field theory with a particu…
We adapt the notion of an algebraic theory to work in the setting of quasicategories developed recently by Joyal and Lurie. We develop the general theory at some length. We study one extended example in detail: the theory of commutative monoids (which turns out to be essentially just a 2-category). This gives a straightforward, combinatorially explicit, and instructive notion of a commutative monoid. We prove that this definition is equivalent (in appropriate senses) both to the classical concept of an E-infinity monoid and to Lurie's concept of a commutative algebra object.
Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Let SH(k) denote the motivic stable homotopy category of T-spectra over k and SH the classical stable homotopy category. Let c:SH -> SH(k) be the functor induced by sending a space to the constant presheaf of spaces on Sm/k. We show that c is fully faithful. In particular, c induces an isomorphism π_n(E)-> π_{n,0}c(E) for all spectra E. Fix an embedding of k into the complex numbers and let Re:SH(k) -> SH be the associated Betti realization. We show that the slice tower for the motivic sphere spectrum has Betti realization which is…
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…
This paper is part of an endeavor to define an analogue of the slice filtration in the unstable motivic homotopy category. Our approach was inspired by the fact that the triangulated structures do not play a relevant role for the construction of birational homotopy categories as well as by the work of Kahn-Sujatha \cite{K-theory/0596} on birational motives, where the existence of a connection between the layers of the slice filtration and birational invariants is explicitly suggested. Our main result, shows that there is an equivalence of categories between the orthogonal components for the sl…
This survey offers an overview of an on-going project on uniform symmetries in abstract stable homotopy theories. This project has calculational, foundational, and representation-theoretic aspects, and key features of this emerging field on abstract representation theory include the following. First, generalizing the classical focus on representations over fields, it is concerned with the study of representations over rings, differential-graded algebras, ring spectra, and in more general abstract stable homotopy theories. Second, restricting attention to specific shapes, it offers an explanati…
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 initiate the homotopical study of racks and quandles, two algebraic structures that govern knot theory and related braided structures in algebra and geometry. We prove analogs of Milnor's theorem on free groups for these theories and their pointed variants, identifying the homotopy types of the free racks and free quandles on spaces of generators. These results allow us to complete the stable classification of racks and quandles by identifying the ring spectra that model their stable homotopy theories. As an application, we show that the stable homotopy of a knot quandle is, in general, mor…
We study how smashing Bousfield localizations behave under various equivariant functors. We show that the analogs of the smash product and chromatic convergence theorems for the Real Johnson-Wilson theories $E_{\mathbb{R}}(n)$ hold only after Borel completion. We establish analogous results for the $C_{2^n}$-equivariant Johnson-Wilson theories constructed by Beaudry, Hill, Shi, and Zeng. We show that induced localizations upgrade the available norms for an $N_\infty$-algebra, and we determine which new norms appear. Finally, we explore generalizations of our results on smashing localizations i…
We reformulate and motivate AKSZ-type topological field theories in pedestrian terms, explaining how they arise as the most general Schwartz-type topological actions subject to a simple constraint, and how they generalize Chern$-$Simons theory and other well known topological field theories, in that they are gauge theories of flat connections of higher gauge groups (infinity-Lie algebras). Their Euler$-$Lagrange equations define quasifree graded-commutative differential algebras, or equivalently $L_\infty$-algebras, the equivalent of the Lie algebra of the gauge group; we explain how integrati…
In this paper we introduce the concept of Deligne cohomology of an orbifold. We prove that the third Deligne cohomology group of a smooth étale groupoid classify gerbes with connection over the groupoid. We argue that the $B$-field and the discrete torsion in type II superstring theories are special kinds of gerbes with connection, and finally, for each one of them, using Deligne cohomology we construct a flat line bundle over the inertia groupoid, namely a Ruan inner local in the case of an orbifold.
In previous work, we showed that there are appropriate model category structures on the category of simplicial categories and on the category of Segal precategories, and that they are Quillen equivalent to one another and to Rezk's complete Segal space model structure on the category of simplicial spaces. Here, we show that these results still hold if we instead use groupoid or "invertible" cases. Namely, we show that model structures on the categories of simplicial groupoids, Segal pregroupoids, and invertible simplicial spaces are all Quillen equivalent to one another and to the standard mod…