We present a constructive method to compute the cellularization with respect to K(Z/p, m) for any integer m > 0 of a large class of H-spaces, namely all those which have a finite number of non-trivial K(Z/p, m)-homotopy groups (the pointed mapping space map(K(Z/p, m), X) is a Postnikov piece). We prove in particular that the K(Z/p, m)-cellularization of an H-space having a finite number of K(Z/p, m)-homotopy groups is a p-torsion Postnikov piece. Along the way we characterize the BZ/p^r-cellular classifying spaces of nilpotent groups.
The purpose of this note is to give a description of the stable homotopy group of some $2$-stage Postnikov systems for a range of dimensions. The considered $2$-stage Postnikov systems has the (weak) homotopy type of a generalized Eilenberg-Mac lane space, then their stable homotopy groups can be calculated by the stable homotopy groups of generalized Eilenberg-Mac lane spaces.
We compare the classical approach of constructing finite Postnikov systems by k-invariants and the global approach of Dwyer, Kan, and Smith. We concentrate on the case of 3-stage Postnikov pieces and provide examples where a classification is feasible. In general though the computational difficulty of the global approach is equivalent to that of the classical one.
We characterize H-spaces which are p-torsion Postnikov pieces of finite type by a cohomological property together with a necessary acyclicity condition. When the mod p cohomology of an H-space is finitely generated as an algebra over the Steenrod algebra we prove that its homotopy groups behave like those of a finite complex.
A generalised Postnikov tower for a space $X$ is a tower of principal fibrations with fibres generalised Eilenberg-MacLane spaces, whose inverse limit is weakly homotopy equivalent to $X$. In this paper we give a characterisation of a polyhedral product $Z_K(X,A)$ whose universal cover either admits a generalised Postnikov tower of finite length, or is a homotopy retract of a space admitting such a tower. We also include $p$-local and rational versions of the theorem. We end with a group theoretic application.
We show that cellular approximations of nilpotent Postnikov stages are always nilpotent Postnikov stages, in particular classifying spaces of nilpotent groups are turned into classifying spaces of nilpotent groups. We use a modified Bousfield-Kan homology completion tower z_k X whose terms we prove are all X-cellular for any X. As straightforward consequences, we show that if X is K-acyclic and nilpotent for a given homology theory K, then so are all its Postnikov sections, and that any nilpotent space for which the space of pointed self-maps map_*(X,X) is "canonically" discrete must be aspher…
We determine the Postnikov Tower and Postnikov Invariants of a Crossed Complex in a purely algebraic way. Using the fact that Crossed Complexes are homotopy types for filtered spaces, we use the above "algebraically defined" Postnikov Tower and Postnikov Invariants to obtain from them those of filtered spaces. We argue that a similar "purely algebraic" approach to Postnikov Invariants may also be used in other categories of spaces.
The classical problem of algebraic models for homotopy types is precisely stated, to our knowledge for the first time. Two different natural statements for this problem are produced, the simplest one being entirely solved by the notion of SSEH-structure, due to the authors. Other tentative solutions, Postnikov towers and E_\infty-chain complexes, are considered and compared with the SSEH-structures. In particular, which looks at least like an unfortunate imprecision in the usual definition of the k-``invariants'' is explained, which implies we seem far from a solution for the ideal statement o…
For several computational problems in homotopy theory, we obtain algorithms with running time polynomial in the input size. In particular, for every fixed k>1, there is a polynomial-time algorithm that, for a 1-connected topological space X given as a finite simplicial complex, or more generally, as a simplicial set with polynomial-time homology, computes the k-th homotopy group π_k(X), as well as the first k stages of a Postnikov system of X. Combined with results of an earlier paper, this yields a polynomial-time computation of [X,Y], i.e., all homotopy classes of continuous mappings X -> Y,…
We extend the theory of equivariant orthogonal spectra from finite groups to profinite groups, and more generally from compact Lie groups to compact Hausdorff groups. The G-homotopy theory is "pieced together" from the G/U-homotopy theories for suitable quotient groups G/U of G; a motivation is the way continuous group cohomology of a profinite group is built out of the cohomology of its finite quotient groups. In the model category of equivariant spectra Postnikov towers are studied from a general perspective. We introduce pro-G-spectra and construct various model structures on them. A key pr…
We give an alternative to Postnikov's homotopy classification of maps from 3-dimensional CW-complexes to homogeneous spaces G/H of Lie groups. It describes homotopy classes in terms of lifts to the group G and is suitable for extending the notion of homotopy to Sobolev maps. This is required for applications to variational problems of mathematical physics.
Classification of homotopy n-types has focused on developing algebraic categories which are equivalent to categories of n-types. We expand this theory by providing algebraic models of homotopy-theoretic constructions for stable one-types. These include a model for the Postnikov one-truncation of the sphere spectrum, and for its action on the model of a stable one-type. We show that a bicategorical cokernel introduced by Vitale models the cofiber of a map between stable one-types, and apply this to develop an algebraic model for the Postnikov data of a stable one-type.
We describe a general method for algorithmic construction of G-equivariant chain homotopy equivalences from non-equivariant ones. As a consequence, we obtain an algorithm for computing equivariant (co)homology of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces K(pi,n), where pi is a finitely generated ZG-module. This result will be used in a forthcoming paper to construct equivariant Postnikov towers of simply connected spaces with free actions of a finite group G and further to compute stable equivariant homotopy classes of maps between such spaces. The methods of this paper work for modules over any non-negatively…
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…
Picard 2-categories are symmetric monoidal 2-categories with invertible 0-, 1-, and 2-cells. The classifying space of a Picard 2-category $\mathcal{D}$ is an infinite loop space, the zeroth space of the $K$-theory spectrum $K\mathcal{D}$. This spectrum has stable homotopy groups concentrated in levels 0, 1, and 2. In this paper, we describe part of the Postnikov data of $K\mathcal{D}$ in terms of categorical structure. We use this to show that there is no strict skeletal Picard 2-category whose $K$-theory realizes the 2-truncation of the sphere spectrum. As part of the proof, we construct a ca…
In this paper, a strategy is developed studying a simplicial commutative algebra A whose zeroth homotopy group is a Noetherian ring B and whose higher homotopy groups are finite over B. The strategy replaces A with a connected simplicial supplemented k(q)-algebra, for each prime ideal q in B, which preserves much of the Andre-Quillen homology of A. The methods for this construction involves a mixture of methods of homotopy theory (e.g. Postnikov towers) with methods of commutative algebras (e.g. completions, Cohen factorizations). We finish by indicating how these methods resolve a more genera…
The aim of this paper is to explain how, through the work of a number of people, some algebraic structures related to groupoids have yielded algebraic descriptions of homotopy n-types. Further, these descriptions are explicit, and in some cases completely computable, in a way not possible with the traditional Postnikov systems, or with other models, such as simplicial groups.
If $q:Y\longrightarrow{B}$ is a fibration and $Z$ is a space, then the free range mapping space $Y!Z$ has a collection of partial maps from $Y$ to $Z$ as underline space, i.e. those such maps whose domains are individual fibre of $q$. It is shown in \cite{P. Booth6} that these spaces have applications to several topics in homotopy theory. These such results are given in complete detail, concerning identification, cofibrations and sectioned fibrations. The necessary topological foundations for two none complicated applications, i.e. to the cohomology of fibrations and the classification of Moor…
For a connected CW-complex, we let $SNT(X)$ be the set of all homotopy types $[Y]$ such that the Postnikov approximations $X^{(n)}$ and $Y^{(n)}$ of $X$ and $Y$, respectively, are homotopy equivalent for all positive integers $n$. In 1992, McGibbon and Møller (\cite[page 287]{MM}) raised the following question: Is $SNT(Σ\mathbb C P^\infty) = *$ or not? In this article, we give an answer to the more generalized version of this query: The set of all the same $n$-types of the suspended wedge sum of the Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of various types of both even and odd integers is the set which consis…
We introduce the category Pstem[n] of n-stems, with a functor P[n] from spaces to Pstem[n]. This can be thought of as the n-th order homotopy groups of a space. We show how to associate to each simplicial n-stem Q an (n+1)-truncated spectral sequence. Moreover, if Q=P[n]X is the Postnikov n-stem of a simplicial space X, the truncated spectral sequence for Q is the truncation of the usual homotopy spectral sequence of X. Similar results are also proven for cosimplicial n-stems. They are helpful for computations, since n-stems in low degrees have good algebraic models.
A phantom map is a potentially nontrivial map which induces the zero map on every homology theory and on homotopy groups. Zabrodsky has shown that in the presence of particular finiteness conditions on spaces $X$ and $Y$ every map $X\to Y$ is a phantom map. More specifically, Zabrodsky essentially requires $Y$ to be a finite CW complex and $X$ to be a Postnikov space. We show Zabrodsky's observations hold under less restrictive finiteness conditions on the spaces $X$ and $Y$, making use of the Zabrodsky lemma and the machinery of resolving classes. As an application we identify, up to extensio…
In an earlier paper of Cadek, Vokrinek, Wagner, and the present authors, we investigated an algorithmic problem in computational algebraic topology, namely, the computation of all possible homotopy classes of maps between two topological spaces, under suitable restriction on the spaces. We aim at showing that, if the dimensions of the considered spaces are bounded by a constant, then the computations can be done in polynomial time. In this paper we make a significant technical step towards this goal: we show that the Eilenberg-MacLane space K(Z,1), represented as a simplicial group, can be equ…
Lie $n$-algebras are the $L_\infty$ analogs of chain Lie algebras from rational homotopy theory. Henriques showed that finite type Lie $n$-algebras can be integrated to produce certain simplicial Banach manifolds, known as Lie $\infty$-groups, via a smooth analog of Sullivan's realization functor. In this paper, we provide an explicit proof that the category of finite type Lie $n$-algebras and (weak) $L_\infty$-morphisms admits the structure of a category of fibrant objects (CFO) for a homotopy theory. Roughly speaking, this CFO structure can be thought of as the transfer of the classical proj…
In this work we study the homotopy theory of coherent group actions from a global point of view, where we allow both the group and the space acted upon to vary. Using the model of Segal group actions and the model categorical Grothendieck construction we construct a model category encompassing all Segal group actions simultaneously. We then prove a global rectification result in this setting. We proceed to develop a general truncation theory for the model-categorical Grothendieck construction and apply it to the case of Segal group actions. We give a simple characterization of $n$-truncated Se…
We classify extensions of a group $G$ by a braided 2-group $\mathcal{B}$ as defined by Drinfeld, Gelaki, Nikshych, and Ostrik. We describe such extensions as homotopy classes of maps from the classifying space of $G$ to the classifying space of the 3-group of braided $\mathcal{B}$-bitorsors. The Postnikov system of the latter space contains a generalization of the classical Pontryagin square to the setting of local coefficients, which has been previously discussed by Baues and more recently, in a setting close to ours, by Etingof, Nikshych, and Ostrik. We give an explicit cochain-level descrip…
We examine the first non-vanishing higher homotopy group, $π_p$, of the complement of a hypersolvable, non--supersolvable, complex hyperplane arrangement, as a module over the group ring of the fundamental group, $\Zπ_1$. We give a presentation for the $I$--adic completion of $π_p$. We deduce that the second nilpotent $I$--adic quotient of $π_p$ is determined by the combinatorics of the arrangement, and we give a combinatorial formula for the second associated graded piece, $\gr^1_I π_p$. We relate the torsion of this graded piece to the dimensions of the minimal generating systems of the Orli…
For closed oriented manifolds, we establish oriented homotopy invariance of higher signatures that come from the fundamental group of a large class of orientable 3-manifolds, including the ``piecewise geometric'' ones in the sense of Thurston. In particular, this class, that will be carefully described, is the class of all orientable 3-manifolds if the Thurston Geometrization Conjecture is true. In fact, for this type of groups, we show that the Baum-Connes Conjecture With Coefficients holds. The non-oriented case is also discussed.
In this article we consider the homotopy theory of stratified spaces through a simplicial point of view. We first consider a model category of filtered simplicial sets over some fixed poset $P$, and show that it is a simplicial combinatorial model category. We then define a generalization of the homotopy groups for any fibrant filtered simplicial set $X$ : the filtered homotopy groups $sπ_n(X)$. They are diagrams of groups built from the homotopy groups of the different pieces of $X$. We then show that the weak equivalences are exactly the morphisms that induce isomorphisms on those filtered h…
Banagl's method of intersection spaces allows to modify certain types of stratified pseudomanifolds near the singular set in such a way that the rational Betti numbers of the modified spaces satisfy generalized Poincaré duality in analogy with Goresky-MacPherson's intersection homology. In the case of one isolated singularity, we show that the duality isomorphism comes from a nondegenerate intersection pairing which depends on the choice of a chain representative of the fundamental class of the regular stratum. On the technical side, we use piecewise linear polynomial differential forms due to…
Given a homotopy equivalence f between two topological spaces we assemble well known pieces and unfold them into an explicit formula for a strong deformation retraction of the mapping cylinder of f onto its top.
We verify that for a finite simplicial complex $X$ and for piecewise linear loops on $X$, the "thin" loop space is a topological group of the same homotopy type as the space of continuous loops. This turns out not to be the case for the higher loops.
