Homotopy Classification of Categorical Torsors

The long-known results of Schreier on group extensions are here raised to a categorical level by giving a factor set theory for torsors under a categorical group (G,) over a small category . We show a natural bijection between the set of equivalence classes of such torsors and [B({}),B(G,)], the set of homotopy classes of continuous maps between the corresponding classifying spaces. These results are applied to algebraically interpret the set of homotopy classes of maps from a CW-complex X to a path-connected CW-complex Y with _i(Y)=0 for all i1,2.