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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 ...
John Salvatierrez's user avatar
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 ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
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 ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
3k views

Motivation and potential applications of spectral algebraic geometry

Nowadays there is a lot of talk about derived algebraic geometry, but not so much about the related subject of spectral algebraic geometry. Now I'm curious what future is there for spectral algebraic ...
JDou9's user avatar
  • 433
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is the $\infty$-category of spectra “convenient”?

A 1991 paper of Lewis, titled “Is there a convenient category of spectra?” proves that there is no category $\mathrm{Sp}$ satisfying the following desiderata$^1$: There is a symmetric monoidal smash ...
Emily's user avatar
  • 11.8k
18 votes
1 answer
930 views

When do the polynomial algebra and free algebra coincide in brave new algebra?

Given an $\mathbb E_\infty$-ring (highly structured commutative ring spectrum if you want) $R$, we have the free $R$-algebra (on one generation) $R\{t\}\simeq \bigoplus_{n\ge 0} R_{\mathrm h\Sigma_n}$ ...
A Rock and a Hard Place's user avatar
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 ...
Simon Henry's user avatar
  • 42.4k
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 ...
Dmitri Pavlov's user avatar
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 $E_\infty$-...
user49450's user avatar
  • 143
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 ...
Matthias Ludewig's user avatar
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 ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
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 ...
Doron Grossman-Naples's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
294 views

Morphisms of $\mathbb E_l$-rings between $\mathbb E_k$-rings for $l<k$

Given two commutative rings $A$ and $B$, any map of rings $A\to B$ will automatically preserve the commutative structure. This is to say, the forgetful functor $\operatorname{CRing}\to \operatorname{...
A Rock and a Hard Place's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
450 views

Descent vs effective descent for morphisms of ring spectra

Define a homomorphism $\varphi : A \to B$ of commutative discrete rings or commutative ring spectra to be a (effective) descent morphism if the comparison functor from $\mathsf{Mod}_A$ to the category ...
Brendan Murphy's user avatar
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 ...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
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 ...
David White's user avatar
  • 30.3k
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 \...
Ann's user avatar
  • 151
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 ...
xir's user avatar
  • 2,054
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 ...
Mr. Palomar's user avatar
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 ...
Andy Jiang's user avatar
  • 2,356
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 ...
Excalibur's user avatar
  • 301
5 votes
1 answer
296 views

Ring spectra structures on a certain spectral analogue of $\mathbb{Z}/2$

We can characterise $\mathbb{Z}$ and $\mathbb{Z}/2$ as the corepresenting abelian groups of the functors \begin{align*} \mathsf{Forget} &\colon \mathsf{Ab} \to \mathsf{Sets},\\ \mathrm{Inv}...
Emily's user avatar
  • 11.8k
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 $\...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
187 views

Is this a description of the $\aleph_1$-localizing subcategory generated by a compact generator?

This should be obvious but I'm not seeing it: The $\mathfrak T$ be a triangulated category with coproducts and with a compact generator $A$ (that is, the functor $\mathfrak T(A,\_)$ preserves ...
Rasmus's user avatar
  • 3,184
5 votes
1 answer
335 views

Morita equivalence and connectivity

Let $A, B$ be Morita equivalent $\mathbb{E}_1$-ring spectra. Fix an an $(A, B)$-bimodule $P$ and a $(B, A)$-bimodule $Q$ such that $P \otimes_B Q \cong A$ and $Q \otimes_A P \cong B$. If $A$ is ...
Brendan Murphy's user avatar
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 ...
David White's user avatar
  • 30.3k
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 $Ch$ ...
iron feliks's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
138 views

Examples of comonoids (coalgebras) in the stable homotopy category $\mathbf{SH}$

My question is both for the topological and for the algebraic/motivic version of the stable homotopy category $\mathbf{SH}$. It is well known that most cohomologies are represented in $\mathbf{SH}$ by ...
Tintin's user avatar
  • 2,871
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 ...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
120 views

Variations on Thomason's equivalence between connective spectra and symmetric monoidal categories

There's a number of results relating monoidal categories to connective spectra (which are themselves equivalent to $\mathbb{E}_{\infty}$-spaces): Symmetric monoidal categories model all connective ...
Emily's user avatar
  • 11.8k
5 votes
0 answers
239 views

$\mathbb Z \otimes_\mathbb S \mathbb Z$ is concentrated in degree $0$ : mistake in the argument

I'm not sure this is research level so if this is not appropriate, feel free to move the question to StackExchange. However, I post it here since my "fake proof" is based on a (recent) paper and I'm ...
Maxime Ramzi's user avatar
  • 15.9k
5 votes
0 answers
550 views

Truncation and connected cover of spectra

Let $X$ be an $n$-connective spectrum for some $n\in \mathbb{Z}$. Is then $[X, Y] = [X, Y\langle n\rangle]$ for all spectra $Y$, where $Y\langle n\rangle$ denotes the $n$-connective cover of $Y$? ...
Matthias Ludewig's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
241 views

Is there essentially unique notion of module over monoidal stable $\infty$-categories?

There is this (folklore?) fact: for a commutative ring $R$, the category of $R$-modules is equivalent to the category of internal abelian groups in the slice category $\operatorname{Commutative rings}/...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
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 ...
Mikhail Bondarko's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
176 views

Have mod $p^k$ Dyer Lashof operations been studied?

Here is one of the motivations for my question, when $p=2$. The homology of the spectrum $H\mathbb F_2$ as an algebra is generated by the Dyer Lashof operations on the single generator $\xi_1$ (and it ...
elidiot's user avatar
  • 283
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 ...
Excalibur's user avatar
  • 301
3 votes
1 answer
217 views

Does Wolbert's derived equivalence between $E_*^R$-local $R$-modules and $R_E$-modules come from a Quillen equivalence?

Let $R$ be a ring spectrum (in the world of EKMM $S$-modules) and let $E$ be a smashing $R$-module. Denote by $R_E$ the $E_*$-localization of $R$. By a theorem of Wolbert (Theorem 2 in Classifying ...
Rasmus's user avatar
  • 3,184
3 votes
0 answers
145 views

What is the group completion of the underlying multiplicative $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-monoid of the sphere spectrum?

I recently noticed the following categorical/universal way to describe the passage from $\mathbb{Z}$ to $\mathbb{Q}$: We start with the categroy $\mathsf{Sets}^{\mathrm{actv}}_*$ of pointed sets and —...
Emily's user avatar
  • 11.8k
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 ...
unit's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
1 answer
173 views

Monoidal colimit-preserving functor from spaces to $A$-modules

I am reading Lurie's Elliptic Cohomology II and it claims (Section 4.1.3) that for an $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring $A$ "there is an essentially unique symmetric monoidal functor $\mathcal{S} \to \...
Sofía Marlasca Aparicio's user avatar