Questions tagged [homotopy-theory]
Homotopy theory is an important sub-field of algebraic topology. It is mainly concerned with the properties and structures of spaces which are invariant under homotopy. Chief among these are the homotopy groups of spaces, specifically those of spheres. Homotopy theory includes a broad set of ideas and techniques, such as cohomology theories, spectra and stable homotopy theory, model categories, spectral sequences, and classifying spaces.
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third stable homotopy group of spheres via geometry?
It is ''well-known'' that the third stable homotopy group of spheres is cyclic of order $24$. It is also ''well-known'' that the quaternionic Hopf map $\nu:S^7 \to S^4$, an $S^3$-bundle, suspends to a ...
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Why do we need model categories?
I cannot give a good answer to this question. And
2) Why this definition of model category is the right way to give a philosophy of homotopy theory? Why didn't we use any other definition?
3) Has ...
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Do we still need model categories?
One modern POV on model categories is that they are presentations of $(\infty, 1)$-categories (namely, given a model category, you obtain an $\infty$-category by localizing at the category of weak ...
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Why the "W" in CGWH (compactly generated weakly Hausdorff spaces)?
In his 1967 paper A convenient category of topological spaces,
Norman Steenrod introduced the category CGH of compactly generated Hausdorff spaces
as a good replacement of the category Top topological ...
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Why the Dold-Thom theorem?
Dold-Thom Theorem: $$\pi_i(SP(X))\cong\tilde{H}_i(X)$$
It's pretty miraculous, no? I've seen its proof, where you show that the composition of the functors on the left-side satisfies the axioms of a ...
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What determines a model structure?
It is easy to prove that a model structure is determined by the following classes of maps (determined = two model structures with the mentioned classes in common are equal).
cofibrations and weak ...
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Is there a high-concept explanation for why "simplicial" leads to "homotopy-theoretic"?
My (limited) understanding is that simplicial methods tend to be used whenever you want some kind of nontrivial homotopy theory -- for instance, to get a nice model structure, you use simplicial sets ...
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Spaces with same homotopy and homology groups that are not homotopy equivalent?
A common caution about Whitehead's theorem is that you need the map between the spaces; it's easy to give examples of spaces with isomorphic homotopy groups that are not homotopy equivalent. (See Are ...
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Whitehead for maps
I made the following claim over at the Secret Blogging Seminar, and now I'm not sure it's true:
Let $f: X \to Y$ and $g: X \to Y$ be two maps between finite CW complexes. If f and g induce the same ...
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What is the homotopy category of the sphere spectrum?
Is there a known explicit description of the abelian $2$-group $\mathsf{Ho}(\mathbb{S})\overset{\mathrm{def}}{=}\mathsf{Ho}(QS^0)\cong\Pi_{\leq1}(QS^0)$?
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Is there a "spectral exterior algebra" construction in higher algebra?
Given a ring spectrum $R$ and an $R$-module $E$, we have the spectral symmetric algebra $\mathrm{Sym}_R(E)$ of $E$ over $R$, defined by
$$
\begin{align*}
\mathrm{Sym}_R(E) &\overset{\mathrm{def}}{=...
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What non-categorical applications are there of homotopical algebra?
(To be honest, I actually mean something more general than 'homotopical algebra' - topos theory, $\infty$-categories, operads, anything that sounds like its natural home would be on the nLab.)
More ...
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What do the stable homotopy groups of spheres say about the combinatorics of finite sets?
The Barratt-Priddy-Quillen(-Segal) theorem says that the following spaces are homotopy equivalent in an (essentially) canonical way:
$\Omega^\infty S^\infty:=\varinjlim~ \Omega^nS^n$
$\mathbb{Z}\...
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What is the mistake in the proof of the Homotopy hypothesis by Kapranov and Voevodsky?
In 1991, Kapranov and Voevodsky published a proof of a now famously false result, roughly saying that the homotopy category of spaces is equivalent to the homotopy category of strict infinity ...
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What are the uses of the homotopy groups of spheres?
Pete Clark threw down the challenge in his comment to my answer on Why the heck are the homotopy groups of the sphere so damn complicated?:
Have the homotopy groups of spheres ever been applied to ...
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‘Naturally occurring’ $K(\pi, n)$ spaces, for $n \geq 2$
[edited!] Given a group $\pi$ and an integer $n>1$, what are examples of Eilenberg–MacLane spaces $K(\pi, n)$ that can be constructed as "known" manifolds? (Or if not a manifold, say some ...
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Non-examples of model structures, that fail for subtle/surprising reasons?
An often-cited principle of good mathematical exposition is that a definition should always come with a few examples and a few non-examples to help the learner get an intuition for where the concept's ...
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Integral cohomology (stable) operations
There have been a couple questions on MO, and elsewhere, that have made me curious about integral or rational cohomology operations. I feel pretty familiar with the classical Steenrod algebra and its ...
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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 ...
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Are there any "homotopical spaces"?
This is a somewhat vague question; I don't know how "soft" it is, and even if it makes sense.
[Edit: in the light of the comments, we can state my question in a formally precise way, that is: "Is ...
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Defining $SU(n)$ in HoTT
From a recent answer by Mike Shulman, I read:
"HoTT is (among other things) a foundational theory, on roughly the same ontological level as ZFC, whose basic objects can be regarded as $\infty$-...
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What is the relationship between connective and nonconnective derived algebraic geometry?
"Derived algebraic geometry" usually means the study of geometry locally modeled on "$Spec R$" where $R$ is a connective $E_\infty$ ring spectrum (perhaps with further restrictions). Why "connective", ...
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Why is the motivic category defined over the site of smooth schemes only?
Fix a base scheme $S$. Stable and unstable motivic categories over $S$ are defined as certain categories of higher stacks on the Nisnevich site $Sm_S$ of smooth schemes over $S$. Why smooth?
As a ...
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Failure of smoothing theory for topological 4-manifolds
Smoothing theory fails for topological 4-manifolds, in that a smooth structure on a topological 4-manifold $M$ is not equivalent to a vector bundle structure on the tangent microbundle of $M$. Is ...
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How much of homotopy theory can be done using only finite topological spaces?
Let $X$ be a finite simplicial complex and let $B$ denote the set of barycenters of the simplices of $X$. McCord constructed a $T_0$ topology on $B$ with the property that the inclusion $B \to X$ is ...
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A combinatorial approximation functor sSet->qCat
Let $sSet_J$ denote the category of simplicial sets equipped with the Joyal model structure. Simply by the fact that $sSet_J$ is locally presentable and its class of anodynes ($\neq \mathbf{Cof} \cap ...
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Computing homotopies
Oftentimes, in the standard algebraic topology books (May, Switzer, Whithead, for instance), there are tricky little proofs that depend on proving that two maps are homotopic. This is comparable to ...
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What is a homotopy between $L_\infty$-algebra morphisms
A $L_\infty$-algebra can be defined in many different ways. One common way, that
gives the 'right' kind of morphisms, is that a $L_\infty$-algebra is a graded cocommutative and coassociative ...
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When do colimits agree with homotopy colimits?
I'm wondering about when the colimit and the homotopy colimit agree with diagrams of simplicial sets. I know that hocolim$(F)=$colim$(F_c)$ where $F_c$ is the cofibrant replacement of $F$. However, it ...
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Counter-example to the existence of left Bousfield localization of combinatorial model category
Is there any known example of a combinatorial model category $C$ together with a set of map $S$ such that the left Bousefield localization of $C$ at $S$ does not exists ?
It is well known to exists ...
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Obstruction theory for non-simple spaces
I'm looking for a good reference that has a detailed treatment of obstruction theory in the case where the target space is not simple. The specific situation I am interested in involves lifting a map ...
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Difficulties with descent data as homotopy limit of image of Čech nerve
Apologies if this question is inappropriate for MO. It is not a research level question in any of the topics it addresses, I just don't see how a novice can go about answering it alone (I've tried ...
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Does the right adjoint of a Quillen equivalence preserve homotopy colimits?
Call a diagram $E$ in a model category a homotopy colimit diagram if the morphism $$\mathrm{hocolim}~E\to \mathrm{colim}~ E$$ is a weak equivalence. A homotopy colimit is defined as the categorical ...
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Are cofibrations accessible?
The category of fibrations in a combinatorial model category is accessible, accessibly embedded in the arrow category. How about the cofibrations?
More generally, let $C$ be a locally presentable ...
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On combinatorial and cellular model categories and infinity categories
I am looking for a counterexample. Let me first give the set-up. When you work with model categories, it is extremely common to assume they are cofibrantly generated. For me, this means the definition ...
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Reference for homotopy colimit = total complex
I'm looking for a reference for the following fact:
take a simplicial chain complex $ X:\Delta^{op}\to Ch_{\geq 0}(\mathcal A)$ for $\mathcal A$ a nice abelian category (say, cocomplete with enough ...
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Is every $\otimes$-invertible object "coherently sym-central"?
Let $\mathcal C$ be a symmetric monoidal $\infty$-category, and let $L \in \mathcal C$ be a $\otimes$-invertible object. Then the braiding $L \otimes L \to L \otimes L$ is simply multiplication by $\...
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Defining homotopy via endofunctors of a simplicial category
$\newcommand\sSets{\text{sSets}}\newcommand\sing{\text{sing}}\DeclareMathOperator\Hom{Hom}\newcommand\Top{\text{Top}}$I am looking for a reference describing the notions of homotopy and ...
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Proofs of Bott periodicity
K-theory sits in an intersection of a whole bunch of different fields, which has resulted in a huge variety of proof techniques for its basic results. For instance, here's a scattering of proofs of ...
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What properties make $[0,1]$ a good candidate for defining fundamental groups?
The title essentially says it all. Consider the category $\mathfrak{Top}_2$ of triples $(J,e_0,e_1)$ where $J$ is a topological space, and $e_i \in J$. There is an obvious generalization of the ...
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Is there an accepted definition of $(\infty,\infty)$ category?
For probably twenty years, category theorists have known of some objects in the Platonic universe called "(weak) $\infty$-categories", in which there are $k$-morphisms for all $k\in \mathbb N$, with ...
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What are the higher homotopy groups of Spec Z ?
The homotopy groups of the étale topos of a scheme were defined by Artin and Mazur. Are these known for Spec Z? Certainly π1 is trivial because Spec Z has no unramified étale covers,...
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Is $\mathbb{R}^3 \setminus \mathbb{Q}^3$ simply connected?
Similarly is the complement of any countable set in $\mathbb R^3$ simply connected?
Reading around I found plenty of articles discussing the path connectedness $\mathbb R^2 \setminus \mathbb Q^2$ and ...
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What's an example of an $\infty$-topos not equivalent to sheaves on a Grothendieck site?
My question is as in the title:
Does anyone have an example (supposing one exists) of an
$\infty$-topos which is known not to be equivalent to sheaves on a
Grothendieck site?
An $\infty$-topos is as ...
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Why should I care about topological modular forms?
There seems to be a lot of recent activity concerning topological modular forms (TMF), which I gather is an extraordinary cohomology theory constructed from the classical theory of modular forms on ...
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Definition of an E-infinity algebra
Can anyone give me a plain-and-simple
definition of an E-infinity algebra without using
the words "operad," "ring spectrum," or
"stable homotopy"?
Sorry, but I honestly couldn't find it using
all on-...
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Conjectures in Grothendieck's "Pursuing stacks"
I read on the nLab that in "Pursuing stacks" Grothendieck made several interesting conjectures, some of which have been proved since then. For example, as David Roberts wrote in answer to ...
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Higher Topos Theory- what's the moral?
I've often seen Lurie's Higher Topos Theory praised as the next "great" mathematical book. As someone who isn't particularly up-to-date on the state of modern homotopy theory, the book seems ...
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Why should have Peter May worked with CGWH instead of CGH in "The Geometry of Iterated Loop Space"?
This is a follow-up to Dan Ramras' answer of this question.
The following correction can be found in the errata to The Geometry of Iterated Loop space (Page 484 here).
The weak Hausdorff rather ...
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What is the relation between the sphere spectrum and supersymmetry?
In this this google+ post of Urs Schreiber, he says: "Grading over the sphere spectrum is supersymmetry" and then he redirect us to the abstract idea of superalgebra (in nLab).
Are there some ...
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