We give rigorous foundations for parametrized homotopy theory in this monograph. After preliminaries on point-set topology, base change functors, and proper actions of non-compact Lie groups, we develop the homotopy theory of equivariant ex-spaces (spaces over and under a given space) and of equivariant parametrized spectra. We emphasize several issues of independent interest and include much new material on the general theory of topologically enriched model categories. The essential point is to resolve problems in parametrized homotopy theory that have no nonparametrized counterparts. In contrast to previously encountered situations, model theoretic techniques are intrinsically insufficient for this. Instead, a rather intricate blend of model theory and classical homotopy theory is required. Stably, we work with equivariant orthogonal spectra, which are simpler for the purpose than alternative kinds of spectra and give highly structured smash products. We then give a fiberwise duality theorem that allows fiberwise recognition of dualizable and invertible parametrized spectra. This allows application of formal duality theory to the construction and analysis of transfer maps. A construction of fiberwise bundles of spectra plays a central role and leads to a simple conceptual proof of a generalized Wirthmuller isomorphism theorem that calculates the right adjoint to base change along an equivariant bundle with manifold fibers in terms of a shift of the left adjoint. Due to the generality of our bundle theoretic context, the Adams isomorphism theorem relating orbit and fixed point spectra is a direct consequence.
Given Poincare spaces M and X, we study the possibility of compressing embeddings of M x I in X x I down to embeddings of M in X. This results in a new approach to embedding in the metastable range both in the smooth and Poincare duality categories.
In this paper we study the classifying theory of principal bundles in the parametrized setting, motivated by recent interest in higher gauge theory. Using simplicial techniques, we construct a product-preserving classifying space functor for groups in the category of spaces over a fixed space B. Additionally, we prove that the fiberwise geometric realization functor sends a large class of simplicial parametrized principal bundles to ordinary parametrized principal bundles. As an application we show that the fiberwise geometric realization of the universal simplicial principal bundle for a simp…
We introduce a general theory of parametrized objects in the setting of infinity categories. Although spaces and spectra parametrized over spaces are the most familiar examples, we establish our theory in the generality of objects of a presentable infinity category parametrized over objects of an infinity topos. We obtain a coherent functor formalism describing the relationship of the various adjoint functors associated to base-change and symmetric monoidal structures. Our main applications are to the study of generalized Thom spectra. We obtain fiberwise constructions of twisted Umkehr maps f…
In this paper we describe a classifying theory for families of simplicial topological groups. If $B$ is a topological space and $G$ is a simplicial topological group, then we can consider the non-abelian cohomology $H(B,G)$ of $B$ with coefficients in $G$. If $G$ is a topological group, thought of as a constant simplicial group, then the set $H(B,G)$ is the set of isomorphism classes of principal $G$ bundles, or $G$ torsors, on $B$. For more general simplicial groups $G$, the set $H(B,G)$ parametrizes the set of equivalence classes of higher $G$ torsors on $B$. In this paper we consider a more…
We prove that the homotopy theory of parametrized spaces embeds fully and faithfully in the homotopy theory of simplicial presheaves, and that its essential image consists of the locally homotopically constant objects. This gives a homotopy-theoretic version of the classical identification of covering spaces with locally constant sheaves. We also prove a new version of the classical result that spaces parametrized over X are equivalent to spaces with an action of the loop space of X. This gives a homotopy-theoretic version of the correspondence between covering spaces over X and sets with an a…
We show that the Chas-Sullivan loop product, a combination of the Pontrjagin product on the fiber and intersection product on the base, makes sense on the total space homology of any fiberwise monoid E over a closed oriented manifold M. More generally the Thom spectrum E^{-TM} is a ring spectrum. Similarly a fiberwise module over E defines a module over E^{-TM}. Fiberwise monoids include adjoint bundles of principal bundles, and the construction is natural with respect to maps of principal bundles. This naturality implies homotopy invariance of the algebra structure on H_*(LM) arising from the…
We introduce a framework, twisted parametrized stable homotopy theory, for describing semi-infinite homotopy types. A twisted parametrized spectrum is a section of a bundle whose fibre is the category of spectra. We define these bundles in terms of modules over a stack of parametrized spectra and in terms of diagrams of simplicial categories. We present a classification of bundles of categories of spectra and of the associated twisted parametrized spectra. Though twisted parametrized spectra do not have global homotopy types and therefore do not have generalized homology invariants in the usua…
Given an infinity-category C, one can naturally construct an infinity-category Fam(C) of families of objects in C indexed by infinity-groupoids. An ordinary categorical version of this construction was used by Borceux and Janelidze in the study of generalized covering maps in categorical Galois theory. In this paper, we develop the homotopy theory of such "parametrized families" as generalization of the classical homotopy theory of spaces. In particular, we study homotopy-theoretical constructions that arise from the fundamental infinity-groupoids of families in an infinity-category. In the sa…
In order to treat multiplicative phenomena in twisted (co)homology, we introduce a new point-set level framework for parametrized homotopy theory. We provide a convolution smash product that descends to the corresponding infinity-categorical product and allows for convenient constructions of commutative parametrized ring spectra. As an immediate application, we compare various models for generalized Thom spectra. In a companion paper, this approach is used to compare homotopical and operator algebraic models for twisted K-theory.
Bousfield and Kan's $\mathbb{Q}$-completion and fiberwise $\mathbb{Q}$-completion of spaces lead to two different approaches to the rational homotopy theory of non-simply connected spaces. In the first approach, a map is a weak equivalence if it induces an isomorphism on rational homology. In the second, a map of connected and pointed spaces is a weak equivalence if it induces an isomorphism between fundamental groups and higher rationalized homotopy groups; we call these maps $π_1$-rational homotopy equivalences. In this paper, we compare these two notions and show that $π_1$-rational homotop…
For a closed PL manifold M, we consider the configuration space F(M,k) of ordered k-tuples of distinct points in M. We show that a suitable iterated suspension of F(M,k) is a homotopy invariant of M. The number of suspensions we require depends on three parameters: the number of points k, the dimension of M and the connectivity of M. Our proof uses a mixture of Poincare embedding theory and fiberwise algebraic topology.
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…
Deciding whether two simplicial complexes are homotopy equivalent is a fundamental problem in topology, which is famously undecidable. There exists a combinatorial refinement of this concept, called simple-homotopy equivalence: two simplicial complexes are of the same simple-homotopy type if they can be transformed into each other by a sequence of two basic homotopy equivalences, an elementary collapse and its inverse, an elementary expansion. In this article we consider the following related problem: given a 2-dimensional simplicial complex, is there a simple-homotopy equivalence to a 1-dimen…
We prove a nearly optimal bound on the number of stable homotopy types occurring in a k-parameter semi-algebraic family of sets in $\R^\ell$, each defined in terms of m quadratic inequalities. Our bound is exponential in k and m, but polynomial in $\ell$. More precisely, we prove the following. Let $\R$ be a real closed field and let \[ {\mathcal P} = \{P_1,...,P_m\} \subset \R[Y_1,...,Y_\ell,X_1,...,X_k], \] with ${\rm deg}_Y(P_i) \leq 2, {\rm deg}_X(P_i) \leq d, 1 \leq i \leq m$. Let $S \subset \R^{\ell+k}$ be a semi-algebraic set, defined by a Boolean formula without negations, whose atoms …
We use classical results in smoothing theory to extract information about the rational homotopy groups of the space of negatively curved metrics on a high dimensional manifold. It is also shown that smooth M-bundles over spheres equipped with fiberwise negatively curved metrics, represent elements of finite order in the homotopy groups of the classifying space for smooth M-bundles, provided the dimension of M is large enough.
A key open problem in M-theory is the mechanism of "gauge enhancement", which supposedly makes M-branes exhibit the nonabelian gauge degrees of freedom that are seen perturbatively in the limit of 10d string theory. In fact, since only the twisted K-theory classes represented by nonabelian Chan-Paton gauge fields on D-branes have invariant meaning, the problem is really the lift to M-theory of the twisted K-theory classification of D-brane charges. Here we show how this problem has a solution by universal constructions in super homotopy theory, at least rationally. We recall how double dimensi…
We use the cobordism category constructed in arXiv:1703.01047 to the study the homotopy type of the space of positive scalar curvature metrics on a spin manifold of dimension > 4. Our methods give an alternative proof and extension of a recent theorem of Botvinnik, Ebert, and Randal-Williams from arXiv:1411.7408.
Minimum numbers of fixed points or of coincidence components (realized by maps in given homotopy classes) are the principal objects of study in topological fixed point and coincidence theory. In this paper we investigate fiberwise analoga and represent a general approach e.g. to the question when two maps can be deformed until they are coincidence free. Our method involves normal bordism theory, a certain pathspace EB and a natural generalization of Nielsen numbers. As an illustration we determine the minimum numbers for all maps between torus bundles of arbitrary (possibly different) dimensio…
Partial parametrized presentability and the universal property of equivariant spectra
Fakultät für Mathematik, Universität Regensburg（雷根斯堡大学数学系）；Mathematisches Institut, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn（波恩大学数学研究所）；Mathematical Institute, University of Utrecht（乌得勒支大学数学研究所）
We prove that any closed connected exact Lagrangian manifold L in a connected cotangent bundle T*N is up to a finite covering space lift a homology equivalence. We prove this by constructing a fibrant parametrized family of ring spectra FL parametrized by the manifold N. The homology of FL will be (twisted) symplectic cohomology of T*L. The fibrancy property will imply that there is a Serre spectral sequence converging to the homology of FL and the product combined with intersection product on N induces a product on this spectral sequence. This product structure and its relation to the interse…
Let F denote the homotopy fiber of a map f:K-->L of 2-reduced simplicial sets. Using as input data the strongly homotopy coalgebra structure of the chain complexes of K and L, we construct a small, explicit chain algebra, the homology of which is isomorphic as a graded algebra to the homology of GF, the simplicial (Kan) loop group on F. To construct this model, we develop machinery for modeling the homotopy fiber of a morphism of chain Hopf algebras. Essential to our construction is a generalization of the operadic description of the category DCSH of chain coalgebras and of strongly homotopy c…
The generalized string topology construction of Gruher and Salvatore assigns to any bundle of $E_n$-algebras $A$ over a closed oriented manifold $M$ a collection of intersection-type operations on the homology of the total space. These operations are realized by an $H_n$-ring structure on the Thom spectrum $A^{-TM}$ under the Thom isomorphism. We rigidify and extend this construction to a functor connecting the homotopy theory of spaces and spectra parametrized by $M$ to the homotopy theory of module spectra over the Atiyah-Milnor-Spanier-Whitehead dual $M^{-TM} \simeq \bbD M$. Then, using an …
We discuss the homotopy type and the cohomology of spaces of locally convex parametrized curves gamma: [0,1] -> S^2, i.e., curves with positive geodesic curvature. The space of all such curves with gamma(0) = gamma(1) = e_1 and gamma'(0) = gamma'(1) = e_2 is known to have three connected components X_{-1,c}, X_1, X_{-1}. We show several results concerning the homotopy type and cohomology of these spaces. In particular, X_{-1,c} is contractible, X_1 and X_{-1} are simply connected, pi_2(X_{-1}) contains a copy of Z and pi_2(X_1) contains a copy of Z^2. Also, H^n(X_{1}, R) and H^n(X_{-1}, R) are…
A parametrized spectrum E is a family of spectra E_x continuously parametrized by the points x of a topological space X. We take the point of view that a parametrized spectrum is a bundle-theoretic geometric object. When R is a ring spectrum, we consider parametrized R-module spectra and show that they give cocycles for the cohomology theory determined by the algebraic K-theory K(R) of R in a manner analogous to the description of topological K-theory K^0(X) as the Grothendieck group of vector bundles over X. We prove a classification theorem for parametrized spectra, showing that parametrized…
Using the framework for multiplicative parametrized homotopy theory introduced in joint work with C. Schlichtkrull, we produce a multiplicative comparison between the homotopical and operator algebraic constructions of twisted K-theory, both in the real and complex case. We also improve several comparison results about twisted K-theory of C*-algebras to include multiplicative structures. Our results can also be interpreted in the infinity-categorical setup for parametrized spectra.
We give an algebro-geometric interpretation of $C_2$-equivariant stable homotopy theory by means of the $b$-topology introduced by Claus Scheiderer in his study of $2$-torsion phenomena in étale cohomology. To accomplish this, we first revisit and extend work of Scheiderer on equivariant topos theory by functorially associating to a $\infty$-topos $\mathscr{X}$ with $G$-action a presentable stable $\infty$-category $\mathrm{Sp}^G(\mathscr{X})$, which recovers the $\infty$-category $\mathrm{Sp}^G$ of genuine $G$-spectra when $\mathscr{X}$ is the terminal $G$-$\infty$-topos. Given a scheme $X$ w…
