Three models for the homotopy theory of homotopy theories

Given any model category, or more generally any category with weak equivalences, its simplicial localization is a simplicial category which can rightfully be called the “homotopy theory” of the model category. There is a model category structure on the category of simplicial categories, so taking its simplicial localization yields a “homotopy theory of homotopy theories”. In this paper we show that there are two different categories of diagrams of simplicial sets, each equipped with an appropriate definition of weak equivalence, such that the resulting homotopy theories are each equivalent to the homotopy theory arising from the model category structure on simplicial categories. Thus, any of these three categories with the respective weak equivalences could be considered a model for the homotopy theory of homotopy theories. One of them in particular, Rezk’s complete Segal space model category structure on the category of simplicial spaces, is much more convenient from the perspective of making calculations and therefore obtaining information about a given homotopy theory.     

Homotopical algebra in homotopical categories

We develop here a version of abstract homotopical algebra based onhomotopy kernels andcokernels, which are particular homotopy limits and colimits. These notions are introduced in anh-category, a sort of two-dimensional context more general than a 2-category, abstracting thenearly 2-categorical properties of topological spaces, continuous maps and homotopies. A setting which applies also, at different extents, to cubical or simplicial sets, chain complexes, chain algebras, ... and in which homotopical algebra can be established as a two-dimensional enrichment of homological algebra.Actually, a hierarchy of notions ofh-,h1-, ...h4-categories is introduced, through progressive enrichment of thevertical structure of homotopies, so that the strongest notion,h4-category, is a sort of relaxed 2-category. After investigating homotopy pullbacks and homotopical diagrammatical lemmas in these settings, we introduceright semihomotopical categories, ash-categories provided with terminal object and homotopy cokernels (mapping cones), andright homotopical categories, provided also with anh4-structure and verifying second-order regularity properties forh-cokernels.In these frames we study the Puppe sequence of a map, its comparison with the sequence of iterated homotopy cokernels and theh-cogroup structure of the suspension endofunctor. Left (semi-) homotopical categories, based on homotopy kernels, give the fibration sequence of a map and theh-group of loops. Finally, the self-dual notion of homotopical categories is considered, together with their stability properties.Lavoro esequito nell'ambito dei progetti di ricerca del MURST.     

Decompositions of categories over posets and cohomology of categories

Let ? be a small category. We present some results which describe cohomology groups and homotopy colimits of functors defined over ? using cohomology groups and homotopy colimits over certain categories associated to functors from ? to posets. Received: 3 May 1999     

A Cartan-Eilenberg approach to homotopical algebra

In this paper we propose an approach to homotopical algebra where the basic ingredient is a category with two classes of distinguished morphisms: strong and weak equivalences. These data determine the cofibrant objects by an extension property analogous to the classical lifting property of projective modules. We define a Cartan-Eilenberg category as a category with strong and weak equivalences such that there is an equivalence of categories between its localisation with respect to weak equivalences and the relative localisation of the subcategory of cofibrant objects with respect to strong equivalences. This equivalence of categories allows us to extend the classical theory of derived additive functors to this non additive setting. The main examples include Quillen model categories and categories of functors defined on a category endowed with a cotriple (comonad) and taking values on a category of complexes of an abelian category. In the latter case there are examples in which the class of strong equivalences is not determined by a homotopy relation. Among other applications of our theory, we establish a very general acyclic models theorem.     

Model structures on exact categories

We define model structures on exact categories, which we call exact model structures. We look at the relationship between these model structures and cotorsion pairs on the exact category. In particular, when the underlying category is weakly idempotent complete, we get Hovey’s one-to-one correspondence between model structures and complete cotorsion pairs. We classify the right and the left homotopy relation in terms of the cotorsion pairs and look at examples of exact model structures. In particular, we see that given any hereditary abelian model category, the full subcategories of cofibrant, fibrant and cofibrant-fibrant subobjects each has natural exact model structures equivalent to the original model structure. These model structures each has interesting characteristics. For example, the cofibrant-fibrant subobjects form a Frobenius category, whose stable category is the same as the homotopy category of its model structure.     

The homotopy category of pseudofunctors and translation cohomology

We develop the obstruction theory of the 2-category of abelian track categories, pseudofunctors and pseudonatural transformations by using the cohomology of categories. The obstructions are defined in Baues-Wirsching cohomology groups. We introduce translation cohomology to classify endomorphisms in the 2-category of abelian track categories. In a sequel to this paper we will show, under certain conditions which are satisfied by all homotopy categories, that a translation cohomology class determines the exact triangles of a triangulated category.     

CATEGORICAL HOMOTOPY

We present a homotopy theory of small categories. In a work of this nature there is a need to give a theory which is clear and which shows the methods of work in this field. It is also necessary to prove theorems which place the theory within the general framework of homotopy, i.e. particularly to liaise with the homotopy of topological spaces and with abstract homotopy theories. Firstly we define the important notion of finite functor on which the theory is based. Next we introduce a type of fibred category fitting to the work on homotopy. After having studied the paths and loops of a category, we consider homotopy between functors. Finally, we demonstrate the possibility of obtaining homotopy groups before taking into consideration the relations between categorical and topological homotopy.     

Stable model categories are categories of modules

A stable model category is a setting for homotopy theory where the suspension functor is invertible. The prototypical examples are the category of spectra in the sense of stable homotopy theory and the category of unbounded chain complexes of modules over a ring. In this paper we develop methods for deciding when two stable model categories represent ‘the same homotopy theory’. We show that stable model categories with a single compact generator are equivalent to modules over a ring spectrum. More generally stable model categories with a set of generators are characterized as modules over a ‘ring spectrum with several objects’, i.e., as spectrum valued diagram categories. We also prove a Morita theorem which shows how equivalences between module categories over ring spectra can be realized by smashing with a pair of bimodules. Finally, we characterize stable model categories which represent the derived category of a ring. This is a slight generalization of Rickard's work on derived equivalent rings. We also include a proof of the model category equivalence of modules over the Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum HR and (unbounded) chain complexes of R-modules for a ring R.     

A projective homotopy theory of crossedG-modules

In this article we extend Hilton's projective homotopy theory of modules (Hilton, 1967) to a homotopy theory of crossed modules, and then reduce some resulting homotopy classification problems to problems in group homology. We also observe that our homotopy theory satisfies the axioms of a Baues fibration category (Baues, 1989).This author would like to thank the University of Cape Town for its hospitality.     

Symmetric cubical sets

We introduce a new cubical model for homotopy types. More precisely, we will define a category Q_Σ with the following features: Q_Σ is a prop containing the classical box category as a subcategory; the category of presheaves of sets on Q_Σ models the homotopy category; and combinatorial symmetric monoidal model categories with cofibrant unit have homotopically well-behaved enrichments.     

Secondary derived functors and the Adams spectral sequence

Classical homological algebra takes place in additive categories. In homotopy theory such additive categories arise as homotopy categories of “additive groupoid enriched categories”, in which a secondary analog of homological algebra can be performed. We introduce secondary chain complexes and secondary resolutions leading to the concept of secondary derived functors. As a main result we show that the E₃-term of the Adams spectral sequence can be expressed as a secondary derived functor. This result can be used to compute the E₃-term explicitly by an algorithm.     

Lifting homotopy T-algebra maps to strict maps

The settings for homotopical algebra—categories such as simplicial groups, simplicial rings, _A∞$A_{\infty }$ spaces, _E∞$E_{\infty }$ ring spectra, etc.—are often equivalent to categories of algebras over some monad or triple T. In such cases, T is acting on a nice simplicial model category in such a way that T descends to a monad on the homotopy category and defines a category of homotopy T-algebras. In this setting there is a forgetful functor from the homotopy category of T-algebras to the category of homotopy T-algebras.     

On a fat small object argument

Good colimits introduced by J. Lurie generalize transfinite composites and provide an important tool for understanding cofibrant generation in locally presentable categories. We will explore the relation of good colimits to transfinite composites further and show, in particular, how they eliminate the use of large objects in the usual small object argument.     

On cellularization for simplicial presheaves and motivic homotopy

We construct cellular homotopy theories for categories of simplicial presheaves on small Grothendieck sites and discuss applications to the motivic homotopy category of Morel and Voevodsky.     

Rational homotopy theory and differential graded category

We propose a generalization of Sullivan’s de Rham homotopy theory to non-simply connected spaces. The formulation is such that the real homotopy type of a manifold should be the closed tensor dg-category of flat bundles on it much the same as the real homotopy type of a simply connected manifold is the de Rham algebra in original Sullivan’s theory. We prove the existence of a model category structure on the category of small closed tensor dg-categories and as a most simple case, confirm an equivalence between the homotopy category of spaces whose fundamental groups are finite and whose higher homotopy groups are finite dimensional rational vector spaces and the homotopy category of small closed tensor dg-categories satisfying certain conditions.     

Many homotopy categories are homotopy categories

We show that any category that is enriched, tensored, and cotensored over the category of compactly generated weak Hausdorff spaces, and that satisfies an additional hypothesis concerning the behavior of colimits of sequences of cofibrations, admits a Quillen closed model structure in which the weak equivalences are the homotopy equivalences. The fibrations are the Hurewicz fibrations and the cofibrations are a subclass of the Hurewicz cofibrations. This result applies to various categories of spaces, unbased or based, categories of prespectra and spectra in the sense of Lewis and May, the categories of L-spectra and S-modules of Elmendorf, Kriz, Mandell and May, and the equivariant analogues of all the afore-mentioned categories.     

A generalization of Quillen's small object argument

We generalize the small object argument in order to allow for its application to proper classes of maps (as opposed to sets of maps in Quillen's small object argument). The necessity of such a generalization arose with appearance of several important examples of model categories which were proven to be non-cofibrantly generated [J. Adámek, H. Herrlich, J. Rosický, W. Tholen, Weak factorization systems and topological functors, Appl. Categ. Structures 10 (3) (2002) 237-249 [2]; Papers in honour of the seventieth birthday of Professor Heinrich Kleisli (Fribourg, 2000); B. Chorny, The model category of maps of spaces is not cofibrantly generated, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 131 (2003) 2255-2259; J.D. Christensen, M. Hovey, Quillen model structures for relative homological algebra, Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 133 (2) (2002) 261-293; D.C. Isaksen, A model structure on the category of pro-simplicial sets, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 353 (2001) 2805-2841]. Our current approach allows for construction of functorial factorizations and localizations in the equivariant model structures on diagrams of spaces [E.D. Farjoun, Homotopy theories for diagrams of spaces, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 101 (1987) 181-189] and diagrams of chain complexes. We also formulate a non-functorial version of the argument, which applies in two different model structures on the category of pro-spaces [D.A. Edwards, H.M. Hastings, ?ech and Steenrod homotopy theories with applications to geometric topology, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 542, Springer, Berlin, 1976; D.C. Isaksen, A model structure on the category of pro-simplicial sets, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 353 (2001) 2805-2841].The examples above suggest a natural extension of the framework of cofibrantly generated model categories. We introduce the concept of a class-cofibrantly generated model category, which is a model category generated by classes of cofibrations and trivial cofibrations satisfying some reasonable assumptions.     

Axiomatic homotopy theory for operads

We give sufficient conditions for the existence of a model structure on operads in an arbitrary symmetric monoidal model category. General invariance properties for homotopy algebras over operads are deduced.     

Are all localizing subcategories of stable homotopy categories coreflective?

We prove that, in a triangulated category with combinatorial models, every localizing subcategory is coreflective and every colocalizing subcategory is reflective if a certain large-cardinal axiom (Vopěnka?s principle) is assumed true. It follows that, under the same assumptions, orthogonality sets up a bijective correspondence between localizing subcategories and colocalizing subcategories. The existence of such a bijection was left as an open problem by Hovey, Palmieri and Strickland in their axiomatic study of stable homotopy categories and also by Neeman in the context of well-generated triangulated categories.     

Krull-Schmidt decompositions for thick subcategories

Following H. Krause [Decomposing thick subcategories of the stable module category, Math. Ann. 313 (1) (1999) 95-108], we prove Krull-Schmidt type decomposition theorems for thick subcategories of various triangulated categories including the derived categories of rings, Noetherian stable homotopy categories, stable module categories over Hopf algebras, and the stable homotopy category of spectra. In all these categories, it is shown that the thick ideals of small objects decompose uniquely into indecomposable thick ideals. We also discuss some consequences of these decomposition results. In particular, it is shown that all these decompositions respect K-theory.