The Eckmann-Hilton argument and higher operads

The classical Eckmann-Hilton argument shows that two monoid structures on a set, such that one is a homomorphism for the other, coincide and, moreover, the resulting monoid is commutative. This argument immediately gives a proof of the commutativity of the higher homotopy groups. A reformulation of this argument in the language of higher categories is: suppose we have a one object, one arrow 2-category, then its Hom-set is a commutative monoid. A similar argument due to A. Joyal and R. Street shows that a one object, one arrow tricategory is ‘the same’ as a braided monoidal category.In this paper we begin to investigate how one can extend this argument to arbitrary dimension. We provide a simple categorical scheme which allows us to formalise the Eckmann-Hilton type argument in terms of the calculation of left Kan extensions in an appropriate 2-category. Then we apply this scheme to the case of n-operads in the author's sense and classical symmetric operads. We demonstrate that there exists a functor of symmetrisation Symn from a certain subcategory of n-operads to the category of symmetric operads such that the category of one object, one arrow, … , one (n−1)-arrow algebras of A is isomorphic to the category of algebras of Symn(A). Under some mild conditions, we present an explicit formula for Symn(A) which involves taking the colimit over a remarkable categorical symmetric operad.We will consider some applications of the methods developed to the theory of n-fold loop spaces in the second paper of this series.     

A proof of the existence of Batanin's initial operad

In this paper we prove the existence of the n-globular operad used in Batanin's definition of weak n-category. This operad is initial in the category of n-globular operads equipped with two extra pieces of structure: a system of compositions and a contraction. Our approach closely follows a proof by Leinster of the existence of a similar n-globular operad used in his definition of weak n-category (itself a variant of Batanin's definition) – we show that there is a functor giving the free operad equipped with a contraction and system of compositions on an n-globular collection, and applying this functor to the initial collection gives the desired initial operad. Since there is no interaction between the contraction and operad structures we are able to treat their free constructions separately. This is not true of the system of compositions structure, which cannot exist separately from the operad structure, so we use an interleaving-style construction to describe the free operad with system of compositions.     

Abstract Clones and Operads

We establish a connection between abstract clones and operads, which implies that both clones and operads are particular instances of a more general notion. The latter is called W-operad (due to a close resemblance with operads) and can be regarded as a functor on a certain subcategory W, of the category of finite ordinals, with some rather natural properties. When W is a category whose morphisms are the various bijections, the variety of W-operads is rationally equivalent to the variety of operads in the traditional sense. Our main result claims that if W coincides with the category of all finite ordinals then the variety of W-operads is rationally equivalent to the variety of abstract clones.     

Pluriassociative algebras I: The pluriassociative operad

Diassociative algebras form a category of algebras recently introduced by Loday. A diassociative algebra is a vector space endowed with two associative binary operations satisfying some very natural relations. Any diassociative algebra is an algebra over the diassociative operad, and, among its most notable properties, this operad is the Koszul dual of the dendriform operad. We introduce here, by adopting the point of view and the tools offered by the theory of operads, a generalization on a nonnegative integer parameter γ of diassociative algebras, called γ-pluriassociative algebras, so that 1-pluriassociative algebras are diassociative algebras. Pluriassociative algebras are vector spaces endowed with 2γ associative binary operations satisfying some relations. We provide a complete study of the γ-pluriassociative operads, the underlying operads of the category of γ-pluriassociative algebras. We exhibit a realization of these operads, establish several presentations by generators and relations, compute their Hilbert series, show that they are Koszul, and construct the free objects in the corresponding categories. We also study several notions of units in γ-pluriassociative algebras and propose a general way to construct such algebras. This paper ends with the introduction of an analogous generalization of the triassociative operad of Loday and Ronco.     

Operads and varieties of algebras defined by polylinear identities

We show that varieties of algebras over abstract clones and over the corresponding operads are rationally equivalent. We introduce the class of operads (which we call commutative for definiteness) such that the varieties of algebras over these operads resemble in a sense categories of modules over commutative rings. In particular, the notions of a polylinear mapping and the tensor product of algebras. The categories of modules over commutative rings and the category of convexors are examples of varieties over commutative operads. By analogy with the theory of linear multioperator algebras, we develop a theory of C-linear multioperator algebras; in particular, of algebras, defined by C-polylinear identities (here C is a commutative operad). We introduce and study symmetric C-linear operads. The main result of this article is as follows: A variety of C-linear multioperator algebras is defined by C-polylinear identities if and only if it is rationally equivalent to a variety of algebras over a symmetric C-linear operad.     

Koszul duality of En-operads

The goal of this paper is to prove a Koszul duality result for E _n -operads in differential graded modules over a ring. The case of an E ₁-operad, which is equivalent to the associative operad, is classical. For n > 1, the homology of an E _n -operad is identified with the n-Gerstenhaber operad and forms another well-known Koszul operad. Our main theorem asserts that an operadic cobar construction on the dual cooperad of an E _n -operad E_n{\mathtt{E}_n} defines a cofibrant model of E_n{\mathtt{E}_n}. This cofibrant model gives a realization at the chain level of the minimal model of the n-Gerstenhaber operad arising from Koszul duality. Most models of E _n -operads in differential graded modules come in nested sequences E₁ ì E₂ ì ? ì E_￥{\mathtt{E}_1\subset\mathtt{E}_2\subset\cdots\subset\mathtt{E}_{\infty}} homotopically equivalent to the sequence of the chain operads of little cubes. In our main theorem, we also define a model of the operad embeddings E_n-1\hookrightarrowE_n{\mathtt{E}_{n-1}\hookrightarrow\mathtt{E}_n} at the level of cobar constructions.     

Rings, modules, and algebras in infinite loop space theory

We give a new construction of the algebraic K-theory of small permutative categories that preserves multiplicative structure, and therefore allows us to give a unified treatment of rings, modules, and algebras in both the input and output. This requires us to define multiplicative structure on the category of small permutative categories. The framework we use is the concept of multicategory (elsewhere also called colored operad), a generalization of symmetric monoidal category that precisely captures the multiplicative structure we have present at all stages of the construction. Our method ends up in the Hovey-Shipley-Smith category of symmetric spectra, with an intermediate stop at a category of functors out of a particular wreath product.     

On Hopf algebra structures over free operads

The operad Lie can be constructed as the operad of primitives PrimAs from the operad As of associative algebras. This is reflected by the theorems of Friedrichs, Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt and Cartier-Milnor-Moore. We replace the operad As by families of free operads P, which include the operad Mag freely generated by a non-commutative non-associative binary operation and the operad of Stasheff polytopes. We obtain Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt type theorems and collect information about the operads PrimP, e.g., in terms of characteristic functions.     

Operads within Monoidal Pseudo Algebras

A general notion of operad is given, which includes: (1) the operads that arose in algebraic topology in the 1970s to characterise loop spaces. (2) the higher operads of Michael Batanin [4] (3) braided and symmetric analogues of Batanin’s operads which are likely to be important in the study of weakly symmetric higher dimensional monoidal categories. The framework of this paper, links together two-dimensional monad theory, operads, and higher dimensional algebra, in a natural way.     

Homotopy algebras and the inverse of the normalization functor

In this paper, we investigate multiplicative properties of the classical Dold-Kan correspondence. The inverse of the normalization functor maps commutative differential graded algebras to E_∞-algebras. We prove that it in fact sends algebras over arbitrary differential graded E_∞-operads to E_∞-algebras in simplicial modules and is part of a Quillen adjunction. More generally, this inverse maps homotopy algebras to weak homotopy algebras. We prove the corresponding dual results for algebras under the conormalization, and for coalgebra structures under the normalization resp. the inverse of the conormalization.     

Pluriassociative algebras II: The polydendriform operad and related operads

Dendriform algebras form a category of algebras recently introduced by Loday. A dendriform algebra is a vector space endowed with two nonassociative binary operations satisfying some relations. Any dendriform algebra is an algebra over the dendriform operad, the Koszul dual of the diassociative operad. We introduce here, by adopting the point of view and the tools offered by the theory of operads, a generalization on a nonnegative integer parameter γ of dendriform algebras, called γ-polydendriform algebras, so that 1-polydendriform algebras are dendriform algebras. For that, we consider the operads obtained as the Koszul duals of the γ-pluriassociative operads introduced by the author in a previous work. In the same manner as dendriform algebras are suitable devices to split associative operations into two parts, γ-polydendriform algebras seem adapted structures to split associative operations into 2γ operation so that some partial sums of these operations are associative. We provide a complete study of the γ-polydendriform operads, the underlying operads of the category of γ-polydendriform algebras. We exhibit several presentations by generators and relations, compute their Hilbert series, and construct free objects in the corresponding categories. We also provide consistent generalizations on a nonnegative integer parameter of the duplicial, triassociative and tridendriform operads, and of some operads of the operadic butterfly.     

Every topological category is convenient for Gelfand duality

In this paper we generalize our work on Gelfand dualities in cartesian closed topological categories [42] to categories which are only monoidally closed. Using heavily enriched category theory we show that under very mild conditions on the base category function algebra functor and spectral space functor exist, forming a pair of adjoint functors and establishing a duality between function algebras and spectral spaces. Using recent results in connection with semitopological functors, we show that every (E,M)-topological category is endowed with at least oneconvenient monoidal structure admitting a generalized Gelfand duality. So it turns out that there is no need for a cartesian closed structure on a topological category in order to study generalized Gelfand-Naimark dualities.     

The homotopy theory of bialgebras over pairs of operads

We endow the category of bialgebras over a pair of operads in distribution with a cofibrantly generated model category structure. We work in the category of chain complexes over a field of characteristic zero. We split our construction in two steps. In the first step, we equip coalgebras over an operad with a cofibrantly generated model category structure. In the second step we use the adjunction between bialgebras and coalgebras via the free algebra functor. This result allows us to do classical homotopical algebra in various categories such as associative bialgebras, Lie bialgebras or Poisson bialgebras in chain complexes.     

An interpretation of E n -homology as functor homology

We prove that E _n -homology of non-unital commutative algebras can be described as functor homology when one considers functors from a certain category of planar trees with n levels. For different n these homology theories are connected by natural maps, ranging from Hochschild homology and its higher order versions to Gamma homology.     

Smooth group representations on bornological vector spaces

We develop the basic theory of smooth representations of locally compact groups on bornological vector spaces. In this setup, we are able to formulate better general theorems than in the topological case. Nonetheless, smooth representations of totally disconnected groups on vector spaces and of Lie groups on Fréchet spaces remain special cases of our theory. We identify smooth representations with essential modules over an appropriate convolution algebra. We examine smoothening functors on representations and modules and show that they agree if they are both defined. We establish the basic properties of induction and compact induction functors using adjoint functor techniques. We describe the center of the category of smooth representations.     

THE FORGETFUL FUNCTOR Cont → Prox IS TOPOLOGICAL

Abstract

It is shown that the forgetful functor from the category of contiguity spaces to the category of generalized proximity spaces is topological, and that the right adjoint right inverse of this functor extends the inverse of the forgetful functor from the category of totally bounded uniform spaces to the category of proximity spaces.     

A model structure for coloured operads in symmetric spectra

We describe a model structure for coloured operads with values in the category of symmetric spectra (with the positive model structure), in which fibrations and weak equivalences are defined at the level of the underlying collections. This allows us to treat R-module spectra (where R is a cofibrant ring spectrum) as algebras over a cofibrant spectrum-valued operad with R as its first term. Using this model structure, we give sufficient conditions for homotopical localizations in the category of symmetric spectra to preserve module structures.     

Formal plethories

Unstable operations in a generalized cohomology theory E   give rise to a functor from the category of algebras over _E?$E_{?}$ to itself which is a colimit of representable functors and a comonoid with respect to composition of such functors. In this paper I set up a framework for studying the algebra of such functors, which I call formal plethories, in the case where _E?$E_{?}$ is a Prüfer ring. I show that the “logarithmic” functors of primitives and indecomposables give linear approximations of formal plethories by bimonoids in the 2-monoidal category of bimodules over a ring.     

The Eilenberg-Moore Category and a Beck-type Theorem for a Morita Context

The Eilenberg-Moore constructions and a Beck-type theorem for pairs of monads are described. More specifically, a notion of a Morita context comprising of two monads, two bialgebra functors and two connecting maps is introduced. It is shown that in many cases equivalences between categories of algebras are induced by such Morita contexts. The Eilenberg-Moore category of representations of a Morita context is constructed. This construction allows one to associate two pairs of adjoint functors with right adjoint functors having a common domain or a double adjunction to a Morita context. It is shown that, conversely, every Morita context arises from a double adjunction. The comparison functor between the domain of right adjoint functors in a double adjunction and the Eilenberg-Moore category of the associated Morita context is defined. The sufficient and necessary conditions for this comparison functor to be an equivalence (or for the moritability of a pair of functors with a common domain) are derived.     

Operads,configuration spaces and quantization

We review several well-known operads of compactified configuration spaces and construct several new such operads, [`(C)]\bar C, in the category of smooth manifolds with corners whose complexes of fundamental chains give us (i) the 2-coloured operad of A <sub>∞</sub>-algebras and their homotopy morphisms, (ii) the 2-coloured operad of L <sub>∞</sub>-algebras and their homotopy morphisms, and (iii) the 4-coloured operad of openclosed homotopy algebras and their homotopy morphisms. Two gadgets — a (coloured) operad of Feynman graphs and a de Rham field theory on [`(C)]\bar C — are introduced and used to construct quantized representations of the (fundamental) chain operad of [`(C)]\bar C which are given by Feynman type sums over graphs and depend on choices of propagators.