Assume that all spaces and maps are localised at a fixed prime $p$. We study the possibility of generating a universal space $U(X)$ from a space $X$ which is universal in the category of homotopy associative, homotopy commutative H-spaces in the sense that any map f:X->Y to a homotopy associative, homotopy commutative H-space extends to a uniquely determined H-map F: U(X)->Y. Developing a method for recognising certain universal spaces, we show the existence of the universal space F_2(n) of a certain three-cell complex L. Using this specific example, we derive some consequences for the calculation of the unstable homotopy groups of spheres, namely, we obtain a formula for the d_1-differential of the EHP-spectral sequence valid in a certain range.
We bound the volume of the homotopy groups of the 2-local Goodwillie approximations of a sphere in terms of the amount of $2$-torsion in the stable stems, providing a Goodwillie-theoretic refinement of a result of Burklund and Senger (arXiv:2203.00670). At the $2^k$-excisive approximation, this bound is obtained by `multiplying the stable answer by a polynomial of degree $k$'. The main tool is Behrens' Goodwillie-EHP Long Exact Sequence.
The James fibrations give rise to the geometric EHP sequences of homotopy groups of spheres. Using techniques from the Lambda algebra, \cite{BCKQRS66} shows that there are similar long exact sequences of Ext groups defining the $E_{2}-$page of the Bousfield-Kan spectral sequence (also known as the unstable Adams spectral sequence) computing homotopy groups of spheres. In this paper, we give another proof for this phenomenon.
We study the interaction between the EHP sequence and the Goodwillie tower of the identity evaluated at spheres at the prime 2. Both give rise to spectral sequences (the EHP spectral sequence and the Goodwillie spectral sequence, respectively) which compute the unstable homotopy groups of spheres. We relate the Goodwillie filtration to the P map, and the Goodwillie differentials to the H map. Furthermore, we study an iterated Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence approach to the homotopy of the layers of the Goodwillie tower of the identity on spheres. We show that differentials in these spectra…
This paper studies the homotopy type of the moduli space of compact n-manifold thickenings of a finite complex. The main result computes the homotopy fibers of the stabilization map from n-thickenings to (n+1)-thickenings in a wide range. In particular, we obtain an EHP-type sequence for thickenings extending work of C.T.C. Wall.
For any vector bundle, we define an inverse system of spectra. In the case of a trivial bundle over a point, the homotopy groups of the filtration quotients give rise to the stable EHP spectral sequence, as was shown by Mahowald. The limit was determined by Lin. We also obtain a spectral sequence and show strong convergence in certain special cases. For compact base spaces, we obtain a generalization of Lin's theorem. In the case of the universal bundle over BO, we can also determine the limit by means of an Adams spectral sequence. This turns out to be quite different from the compact case. W…
We give a tool for understanding simplicial desuspension in A1-algebraic topology: we show that $X \to Ω(S^1 \wedge X)\to Ω(S^1 \wedge X \wedge X)$ is a fiber sequence up to homotopy in 2-localized A1-algebraic topology for $X = (S^1)^m \wedge G_m^{\wedge q}$ with $m>1$. It follows that there is an EHP sequence spectral sequence $$Z_{(2)} \otimes π_{n+1+i}^{A1} (S^{2n+2m+1} \wedge (G_m)^{\wedge 2q}) \Rightarrow Z_{(2)} \otimes π_{i}^{A1, s} (S^{m} \wedge (G_m)^{\wedge q}).$$
The Anick spaces play a key role in an unstable filtration of the stable homotopy of V(0) to produce secondary EHP sequences. This work establishes that the Anick spaces are homotopy associative and homotopy commutative H-spaces, and that they have a universal mapping property for maps into a homotopy commutative and homotopy associative H-space with a (necessary) condition on the growth of the p torsion. This is utilized to establish an unstable composition theory. The techniques involve generalized Whitehead products based on co-H spaces, calculations in a congruence category that lies betwe…
We give explicit formulas for transfers of $A_\infty$-structures and related maps and homotopies in the most easy situation in which these transfers exist. One half of our formulas was already known to Kontsevich-Soibelman and to Merkulov who derived them, without explicit signs, under slightly stronger assumptions than those made in this note.
We study a version of the James model for the loop space of a suspension in unstable ${\mathbb A}^1$-homotopy theory. We use this model to establish an analog of G.W. Whitehead's classical refinement of the Freudenthal suspension theorem in ${\mathbb A}^1$-homotopy theory: our result refines F. Morel's ${\mathbb A}^1$-simplicial suspension theorem. We then describe some $E_1$-differentials in the EHP sequence in ${\mathbb A}^1$-homotopy theory. These results are analogous to classical results of G.W. Whitehead's. Using these tools, we deduce some new results about unstable ${\mathbb A}^1$-homo…
We show that the canonical map from the associative operad to the unital associative operad is a homotopy epimorphism for a wide class of symmetric monoidal model categories. As a consequence, the space of unital associative algebra structures on a given object is up to homotopy a subset of connected components of the space of non-unital associative algebra structures.
Motivated by ideas from stable homotopy theory we study the space of strongly homotopy associative multiplications on a two-cell chain complex. In the simplest case this moduli space is isomorphic to the set of orbits of a group of invertible power series acting on a certain space. The Hochschild cohomology rings of resulting A-infinity algebras have an interpretation as totally ramified extensions of discrete valuation rings. All A-infinity algebras are supposed to be unital and we give a detailed analysis of unital structures which is of independent interest.
Let $P^{2n+1}$ be a two-cell complex which is formed by attaching a $(2n+1)$--cell to a $2m$--sphere by a suspension map. We construct a universal space $U$ for $P^{2n+1}$ in the category of homotopy associative, homotopy commutative $H$--spaces. By universal we mean that $U$ is homotopy associative, homotopy commutative, and has the property that any map $f\colon P^{2n+1}\lra Y$ to a homotopy associative, homotopy commutative $H$--space $Y$ extends to a uniquely determined $H$--map $\bar{f}\colon U\lra Y$. We then prove upper and lower bounds of the $H$--homotopy exponent of $U$. In the case …
A kind of unstable homotopy theory on the category of associative rings (without unit) is developed. There are the notions of fibrations, homotopy (in the sense of Karoubi), path spaces, Puppe sequences, etc. One introduces the notion of a quasi-isomorphism (or weak equivalence) for rings and shows that - similar to spaces - the derived category obtained by inverting the quasi-isomorphisms is naturally left triangulated. Also, homology theories on rings are studied. These must be homotopy invariant in the algebraic sense, meet the Mayer-Vietoris property and plus some minor natural axioms. To …
Stasheff showed that if a map between H-spaces is an H-map, then the suspension of the map is extendable to a map between cprojective planes of the H-spaces. Stahseff also proved the converse under the assumption that the multiplication of the target space of the map is homotopy associative. We show by giving an example that the assumption of homotopy associativity of the multiplication of the target space is necessary to show the converse. We also show an analogous fact for maps between higher homotopy associative H-spaces.
We show that any homotopy Gerstenhaber algebra is naturally a strongly homotopy commutative (shc) algebra in the sense of Stasheff-Halperin with a homotopy associative structure map. In the presence of certain additional operations corresponding to a cup-1 product on the bar construction, the structure map becomes homotopy commutative, so that one obtains an shc algebra in the sense of Munkholm.
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 describe a collection of higher homotopy operations which determine the rational homotopy type of a simply-connected space X. These are described in terms of simplicial resolutions of successive approximations (L^k,α} to the Quillen DGL model for X. The operations lie in suitable cohomology groups H^*{L^{(k,α)}; π_* X\otimes Q} of these DGLs. To facilitate the recovery of an integral version of the operations from the rational description, we also define a differential graded non-associative algebra model for rational spaces.
In order to solve two problems in deformation theory, we establish natural structures of homotopy Lie algebras and of homotopy associative algebras on tensor products of algebras of different types and on mapping spaces between coalgebras and algebras. When considering tensor products, such algebraic structures extend the Lie algebra or associative algebra structures that can be obtained by means of the Manin products of operads. These new homotopy algebra structures are proven by to compatible with the concepts of homotopy theory: $\infty$-morphisms and the Homotopy Transfer Theorem. We give …
We construct two algebraic versions of homotopy theory of rational disconnected topological spaces, one based on differential graded commutative associative algebras and the other one on complete differential graded Lie algebras. As an application of the developed technology we obtain results on the structure of Maurer-Cartan spaces of complete differential graded Lie algebras.
An affine action of an associative algebra $A$ on a vector space $V$ is an algebra morphism $A \to V \rtimes {\rm End}(V)$, where $V$ is a vector space and $V \rtimes {\rm End}(V)$ is the algebra of affine transformations of $V$. The one dimensional version of the Swiss-Cheese operad, denoted ${\mathrm{\bf{sc}}}_1$, is the operad that governs affine actions of associative algebras. This operad is Koszul and admits a minimal model denoted by $({\mathrm{\bf{sc}}}_1)_\infty$. Algebras over this minimal model are called Homotopy Affine Actions, they consist of an $A_\infty$-morphism $A \to V \rtim…
Over a field of characteristic zero, we show that the forgetful functor from the homotopy category of commutative dg algebras to the homotopy category of dg associative algebras is faithful. In fact, the induced map of derived mapping spaces gives an injection on all homotopy groups at any basepoint. We prove similar results both for unital and non-unital algebras, and also Koszul dually for the universal enveloping algebra functor from dg Lie algebras to dg associative algebras. An important ingredient is a natural model for these derived mapping spaces as Maurer-Cartan spaces of complete fil…
We look at strict $n$-groupoids and show that if $\Re$ is any realization functor from the category of strict $n$-groupoids to the category of spaces satisfying a minimal property of compatibility with homotopy groups, then there is no strict $n$-groupoid $G$ such that $\Re (G)$ is the $n$-type of $S^2$ (for $n\geq 3$). At the end we speculate on how one might fix this problem by introducing a notion of ``snucategory'', a strictly associative $n$-category with only weak units.
We prove that the Real Johnson-Wilson theories ER(n) are homotopy associative and commutative ring spectra up to phantom maps. We further show that ER(n) represents an associatively and commutatively multiplicative cohomology theory on the category of (possibly non-compact) spaces.
The question of whether a given H-space X is, up to homotopy, a loop space has been studied from a variety of viewpoints. Here we address this question from the aspect of homotopy operations, in the classical sense of operations on homotopy groups. First, we show how an H-space structure on X can be used to define the action of the primary homotopy operations on the shifted homotopy groups π_{*-1} X (which are isomorphic to π_* Y, if X=Ω\Y. This action will behave properly with respect to composition of operations if X is homotopy-associative, and will lift to a topological action of the monoi…
For a Poincare duality space X and a map X -> B, consider the homotopy fiber product X x^B X. If X is orientable with respect to a multiplicative cohomology theory E, then, after suitably regrading, it is shown that the E-homology of X x^B X has the structure of a graded associative algebra. When X -> B is the diagonal map of a manifold X, one recovers a result of Chas and Sullivan about the homology of the free loop space LX.
For dimensions $n\geq 3$ and $k\in\{2, \cdots, n\}$, we show that the space of metrics of $k$-positive Ricci curvature on the sphere $S^{n}$ has the structure of an $H$-space with a homotopy commutative, homotopy associative product operation. We further show, using the theory of operads and results of Boardman, Vogt and May that the path component of this space containing the round metric is weakly homotopy equivalent to an $n$-fold loop space.
The question of the existence of Universal homotopy commutative and homotopy associative H-spaces (called Abelian H-spaces) is studied. Such a space T(X) would prolong a map from X into an Abelian H-space to a unique H-map from T into X. Examples of such pairs (X,T) are given and conditions are discussed which limit the possible spaces X for which such a T can exist. The Anick spaces are shown not to be universal Abelian H-spaces for the corresponding Moore spaces, but conditions are discussed which could lead to a universal property with respect to a more limited range of targets.
We provide explicit quasi-isomorphisms between the following three algebraic structures associated to the unit interval: i) the commutative dg algebra of differential forms, ii) the non-commutative dg algebra of simplicial cochains and iii) the Whitney forms, equipped with a homotopy commutative and homotopy associative, i.e. $C_\infty$, algebra structure. Our main interest lies in a natural `discretization' $C_\infty$ quasi-isomorphism $φ$ from differential forms to Whitney forms. We establish a uniqueness result that implies that $φ$ coincides with the morphism from homotopy transfer, and ob…
For dimensions n greater than or equal to 3, we show that the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on the n-sphere is homotopy equivalent to a subspace which takes the form of a H-space with a homotopy commutative, homotopy associative product operation. This product operation is based on the connected sum construction. We then exhibit an action of the little n-disks operad on this subspace which, using results of Boardman, Vogt and May implies that when n=3 or n is at least 5, the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on the n-sphere is weakly homotopy equivalent to an n-fold…
Let X be a (not-necessarily homotopy-associative) H-space. We show that TC_{n+1}(X) = cat(X^n), for n >= 1, where TC_{n+1}(-) denotes the so-called higher topological complexity introduced by Rudyak, and cat(-) denotes the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category. We also generalize this equality to an inequality, which gives an upper bound for TC_{n+1}(X), in the setting of a space Y acting on X.
We prove a general result that relates certain pushouts of $E_k$-algebras to relative tensors over $E_{k+1}$-algebras. Specializations include a number of established results on classifying spaces, resolutions of modules, and (co)homology theories for ring spectra. The main results apply when the category in question has centralizers. Among our applications, we show that certain quotients of the dual Steenrod algebra are realized as associative algebras over $HF_p \wedge HF_p$ by attaching single $E_1$-algebra relation, generalizing previous work at the prime $2$. We also construct a filtered …
Higher homotopies are nowadays playing a prominent role in mathematics as well as in certain branches of theoretical physics. We recall some of the connections between the past and the present developments. Higher homotopies were isolated within algebraic topology at least as far back as the 1940's. Prompted by the failure of the Alexander-Whitney multiplication of cocycles to be commutative, Steenrod developed certain operations which measure this failure in a coherent manner. Dold and Lashof extended Milnor's classifying space construction to associative H-spaces, and a careful examination o…
Let A and B be two connected graded commutative k-algebras of finite type, where k is a perfect field of positive characteristic p. We prove that the quasi--shuffle algebras generated by A and B are isomorphic as Hopf algebras if and only if A and B are isomorphic as graded k-vector spaces equipped with a Frobenius (pth-power) map. For the hardest part of this analysis, we work with the dual construction, and are led to study connected graded cocommutative Hopf algebras H with two additional properties: H is free as an associative algebra, and the projection onto the indecomposables is split a…
