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28 votes
2 answers
2k views

Has anyone seen a nice map of multiplicative cohomology theories?

I have seen lots of descriptions of this map in the literature but never seen it nicely drawn anywhere. I could try to do it myself but I really lack expertise, hence am afraid to miss something or ...
3 votes
1 answer
624 views

Homotopy colimit commutes with homotopy groups

I'm interested in something built upon the construction laid out in nlab article on Snaith's theorem Let $(E, \mu, \iota)$ be a ring spectrum. For $\beta \in \pi_n(E)$ an element of the $n$th stable ...
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why did Ravenel define a ring spectrum to be flat if its smash-square splits into copies of itself?

In appendix A.2 of the orange book, Ravenel defines a ring spectrum $E$ to be flat if $E\wedge E$ is equivalent to a coproduct of suspensions of $E$. (Call this definition (1).) I've seen this ...
5 votes
1 answer
322 views

Is there a model structure for S-modules such that cofibrant operad-algebras forget to cofibrant S-modules?

In 1997, Elmendorf, Kriz, Mandell, and May wrote a book Rings, Modules, and Algebras in Stable Homotopy Theory in which they introduced the category of $S$-modules as a model for the stable homotopy ...
8 votes
0 answers
300 views

What can I say about an $E_\infty$ ring spectrum with an odd invertible element?

I have an $E_\infty$ ring spectrum $R$. I suspect it is trivial, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that there is an $R$-linear equivalence $R \simeq \Sigma R$. Unless I am very confused, this ...
5 votes
0 answers
173 views

Uniqueness of complex topological $K$-theory as an $S$-algebra

This might be well-known or trivial, but I could not figure out how to fill in the details: For an $S$-algebra $K$ denote its associated multiplicative cohomology theory by $h^*_K$. Suppose that I ...
6 votes
1 answer
390 views

What is the topological Hochschild cohomology of $\mathbb{F}_p$?

Following the computation of the THH (topological Hochschild homology) of $\mathbb{F}_p$ as outlined in Krause-Nikolaus. We use the fact that $\mathbb{F}_p$ is initial $E_2$ ring with $0=p$ to compute ...
7 votes
1 answer
247 views

Module spectrum maps up to stable homotopy

Let $R$ be a commutative ring spectrum, $M$ and $N$ be a $R$-module spectra. Let us consider $R$-module maps from $M$ to $N$ up to stable homotopy, that is maps $M \to N$ such that the composites $R \...
6 votes
1 answer
578 views

Two definitions of power operations --- how do they relate?

Below are two different stories about power operations for $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring spectra, and I am struggling to see how they relate. In the following we let $R$ be an $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring ...
5 votes
1 answer
348 views

$KO_*$ groups of $\mathbb{R}P^\infty$, "Snaiths" theorem for $KO$

I posted this question some days ago at math.stackexchange, but didn't receive an answer. I have two questions: I wonder whether anyone has taken the time to compute $KO_*(\mathbb{R}P^\infty)$? The ...
5 votes
1 answer
480 views

Stable Dold-Kan correspondence and symmetric group actions

There exists a Quillen equivalence between $HRModSpectra$ (model category of ring spectra over Eilenberg-MacLane spectra $EM(R)$, where $R$ is a commutative ring, with stable model structure) and $Ch$ ...
9 votes
0 answers
317 views

Are there non-obvious finite $E_\infty$ ring spectra?

I see two "obvious" classes of nonzero finite $E_\infty$ ring spectra $R$: $R = \Sigma^\infty_+ (S^1)^{\times n}$ $R = D\Sigma^\infty_+ X$ ($X$ a finite space) Questions: Are there any others? In ...
8 votes
0 answers
328 views

Did the Goerss-Hopkins manuscript "Multiplicative stable homotopy theory" ever appear?

A citation to "M. J. Hopkins and P. Goerss, Multiplicative stable homotopy theory, unpublished manuscript, 1996" appears in the Hill, Hopkins, Ravenel Annals paper on the Kervaire invariant. It was ...
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Ring structures on algebraic K-theory spectrum, and its non-connective counterpart

I have a few naive questions on the algebraic K-theory spectrum construction, but whose answers I couldn't figure out using the internet. I'm mostly interested in the case of a commutative ring, but I ...
17 votes
1 answer
777 views

Idempotent ring spectrum

Is there a lot of ring spectrum which are idempotent in the sense that the multiplication map $R \wedge R \rightarrow R$ is an equivalence ? The sphere spectrum $\mathbb{S}$ and the $0$ spectrum are ...
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Connective spectra and infinite loop spaces

It seems to be standard that connective spectra are "the same" as infinite loop space. However, I do not understand the reason why the associated spectrum is connective. For me, an infinite loop ...
26 votes
1 answer
1k views

From the perspective of bordism categories, where does the ring structure on Thom spectra come from?

To fix ideas, let's consider the Thom spectrum of framed bordism $M$, the spectrum whose homotopy groups are the framed bordism groups. $M$ has a ring spectrum structure inducing the product of ...
5 votes
1 answer
444 views

endomorphisms of modules over symmetric ring spectra

I have a probably very basic question about modules over symmetric ring spectra: Let $R$ be a commutative symmetric ring spectrum and let $M$ and $N$ be module spectra over $R$. Moreover, let $\...
14 votes
2 answers
738 views

Truncations of E_infinity algebras

In section 4.1 of Lurie's DAG VIII, he implies the existence of an $E_\infty$-ring spectrum $A$ such that the coconnective truncation $\tau_{\leq 0} (A)$ does not admit the structure of an $E_\infty$-...
3 votes
0 answers
434 views

Units of a ring spectrum

Is there a good notion of the spectrum of units $R^\ast$ in a (possibly non-connective) $E_\infty$-ring spectrum $R$? A standard definition (see section 1.2 in http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.4535) seems ...
41 votes
1 answer
10k views

Why not a Roadmap for Homotopy Theory and Spectra?

MO has seen plenty of roadmap questions but oddly enough I haven't seen one for homotopy theory. As an algebraic geometer who's fond of derived categories I would like some guidance on how to build up ...
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Are Thom spectra MU, MSO and K-theory spectra KU, KO modules over some truncations of the sphere spectrum?

The Thom spectrum MO is a module over the ring spectrum π≤0S=HZ, where S is the sphere spectrum. In particular, MO is equivalent to the Eilenberg-MacLane spectrum Hπ*(MO). On the other hand, MU and ...
4 votes
1 answer
438 views

If a t-truncation of the unit object in a stable homotopy category is a ring object up to homotopy, can it be lifted to a ring spectrum? What about the Postnikov t-truncations of the sphere spectrum?

Let $S$ be the unit object in a monoidal stable homotopy category $SH$ (we demand that the multiplication $S\times S\to S$ is commutative and associative on the level of spectra, and not just up to ...