A Homotopy 2-Groupoid of a Hausdorff Space

If X is a Hausdorff space we construct a 2-groupoid G ₂ X with the following properties. The underlying category of G ₂ X is the `path groupoid" of X whose objects are the points of X and whose morphisms are equivalence classes f, g of paths f, g in X under a relation of thin relative homotopy. The groupoid of 2-morphisms of G ₂ X is a quotient groupoid X / N X, where X is the groupoid whose objects are paths and whose morphisms are relative homotopy classes of homotopies between paths. N X is a normal subgroupoid of X determined by the thin relative homotopies. There is an isomorphism G ₂ X(f,f) ₂(X, f(0)) between the 2-endomorphism group of f and the second homotopy group of X based at the initial point of the path f. The 2-groupoids of function spaces yield a 2-groupoid enrichment of a (convenient) category of pointed spaces.We show how the 2-morphisms may be regarded as 2-tracks. We make precise how cubical diagrams inhabited by 2-tracks can be pasted.