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.     

On the tensor product of well generated dg categories

We endow the homotopy category of well generated (pretriangulated) dg categories with a tensor product satisfying a universal property. The resulting monoidal structure is symmetric and closed with respect to the cocontinuous RHom of dg categories (in the sense of Toën [32]). We give a construction of the tensor product in terms of localisations of dg derived categories, making use of the enhanced derived Gabriel-Popescu theorem [27]. Given a regular cardinal α, we define and construct a tensor product of homotopically α-cocomplete dg categories and prove that the well generated tensor product of α-continuous derived dg categories (in the sense of [27]) is the α-continuous dg derived category of the homotopically α-cocomplete tensor product. In particular, this shows that the tensor product of well generated dg categories preserves α-compactness.     

An internal language for autonomous categories

We present an internal language for symmetric monoidal closed (autonomous) categories analogous to the typed lambda calculus as an internal language for cartesian closed categories. The language we propose is the term assignment to the multiplicative fragment of Intuitionistic Linear Logic, which possesses exactly the right structure for an autonomous theory. We prove that this language is an internal language and show as an application the coherence theorem of Kelly and Mac Lane, which becomes straightforward to state and prove. Finally, we extend the language with the natural numbers and show that this corresponds to a weak Natural Numbers Object in an autonomous category.     

How strict is strictification?

The subject of this paper is the higher structure of the strictification adjunction, which relates the two fundamental bases of three-dimensional category theory: the Gray-category of 2-categories and the tricategory of bicategories. We show that – far from requiring the full weakness provided by the definitions of tricategory theory – this adjunction can be strictly enriched over the symmetric closed multicategory of bicategories defined by Verity. Moreover, we show that this adjunction underlies an adjunction of bicategory-enriched symmetric multicategories. An appendix introduces the symmetric closed multicategory of pseudo double categories, into which Verity's symmetric multicategory of bicategories embeds fully.     

The heart of the Banach spaces

Consider an exact category in the sense of Quillen. Assume that in this category every morphism has a kernel and that every kernel is an inflation. In their seminal 1982 paper, Beĭlinson, Bernstein and Deligne consider in this setting a t-structure on the derived category and remark that its heart can be described as a category of formal quotients. They further point out that the category of Banach spaces is an example, and that here a similar category of formal quotients was studied by Waelbroeck already in 1962. In the current article, we give a direct and rigorous construction of the latter category by considering first the monomorphism category. Then we localize with respect to a multiplicative system. Our approach gives rise to a heart-like category not only for the Banach spaces. In particular, the main results apply to categories in which the set of all kernel–cokernel pairs does not form an exact structure. Such categories arise frequently in functional analysis.     

Closed structures on categories of topological spaces

The category of all topological spaces and continuous maps and its full subcategory of all T_o-spaces admit (up to isomorphism) precisely one structure of symmetric monoidal closed category (see [2]). In this paper we shall prove the same result for any epireflective subcategory of the category of topological spaces (particularly e.g. for the categories of Hausdorff spaces, regular spaces, Tychonoff spaces).     

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.     

Incidence categories

Given a family F of posets closed under disjoint unions and the operation of taking convex subposets, we construct a category C_F called the incidence category ofF. This category is “nearly abelian” in the sense that all morphisms have kernels/cokernels, and possesses a symmetric monoidal structure akin to direct sum. The Ringel-Hall algebra of C_F is isomorphic to the incidence Hopf algebra of the collection P(F) of order ideals of posets in F. This construction generalizes the categories introduced by K. Kremnizer and the author, in the case when F is the collection of posets coming from rooted forests or Feynman graphs.     

Strong cofibrations and fibrations in enriched categories

We define strong cofibrations and fibrations in suitably enriched categories using the relative homotopy extension resp. lifting property. We prove a general pairing result, which for topological spaces specializes to the well-known pushout-product theorem for cofibrations. Strong cofibrations and fibrations give rise to cofibration and fibration categories in the sense of homotopical algebra. We discuss various examples; in particular, we deduce that the category of chain complexes with chain equivalences and the category of categories with equivalences are symmetric monoidal proper closed model categories. Eine überarbeitete Fassung ging am 5. 12. 2001 ein     

The 1-type of a Waldhausen K-theory spectrum

We give a small functorial algebraic model for the 2-stage Postnikov section of the K-theory spectrum of a Waldhausen category and use our presentation to describe the multiplicative structure with respect to biexact functors.     

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.     

Categories with sums and right distributive tensor product

Models for parallel and concurrent processes lead quite naturally to the study of monoidal categories (Inform. Comput. 88 (2) (1990) 105). In particular a category Tree of trees, equipped with a non-symmetric tensor product, interpreted as a concatenation, seems to be very useful to represent (local) behavior of non-deterministic agents able to communicate (Enriched Categories for Local and Interaction Calculi, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 283, Springer, Berlin, 1987, pp. 57-70). The category Tree is also provided with a coproduct (corresponding to choice between behaviors) and the tensor product is only partially distributive w.r.t. it, in order to preserve non-determinism. Such a category can be properly defined as the category of the (finite) symmetric categories on a free monoid, when this free monoid is considered as a 2-category. The monoidal structure is inherited from the concatenation in the monoid. In this paper we prove that for every alphabet A, Tree(A), the category of finite A-labeled trees is equivalent to the free category which is generated by A and enjoys the afore-mentioned properties. The related category Beh(A), corresponding to global behaviors is also proven to be equivalent to the free category which is generated by A and enjoys a smaller set of properties.     

Monoidal Uniqueness of Stable Homotopy Theory

We show that the monoidal product on the stable homotopy category of spectra is essentially unique. This strengthens work of this author with Schwede on the uniqueness of models of the stable homotopy theory of spectra. Also, the equivalences constructed here give a unified construction of the known equivalences of the various symmetric monoidal categories of spectra (S-modules, -spaces, orthogonal spectra, simplicial functors) with symmetric spectra. As an application we show that with an added assumption about underlying model structures Margolis' axioms uniquely determine the stable homotopy category of spectra up to monoidal equivalence.     

Pseudosymmetric braidings, twines and twisted algebras

A laycle is the categorical analogue of a lazy cocycle. Twines (introduced by Bruguières) and strong twines (as introduced by the authors) are laycles satisfying some extra conditions. If c is a braiding, the double braiding c² is always a twine; we prove that it is a strong twine if and only if c satisfies a sort of modified braid relation (we call such cpseudosymmetric, as any symmetric braiding satisfies this relation). It is known that the category of Yetter-Drinfeld modules over a Hopf algebra H is symmetric if and only if H is trivial; we prove that the Yetter-Drinfeld category _HYD^H over a Hopf algebra H is pseudosymmetric if and only if H is commutative and cocommutative. We introduce as well the Hopf algebraic counterpart of pseudosymmetric braidings under the name pseudotriangular structures and prove that all quasitriangular structures on the 2ⁿ⁺¹-dimensional pointed Hopf algebras E(n) are pseudotriangular. We observe that a laycle on a monoidal category induces a so-called pseudotwistor on every algebra in the category, and we obtain some general results (and give some examples) concerning pseudotwistors, inspired by the properties of laycles and twines.     

Homomorphisms of higher categories

We describe a construction that to each algebraically specified notion of higher-dimensional category associates a notion of homomorphism which preserves the categorical structure only up to weakly invertible higher cells. The construction is such that these homomorphisms admit a strictly associative and unital composition. We give two applications of this construction. The first is to tricategories; and here we do not obtain the trihomomorphisms defined by Gordon, Power and Street, but rather something which is equivalent in a suitable sense. The second application is to Batanin's weak ω-categories.     

Homological Finiteness Conditions for Groups,Monoids, and Algebras

Let ? be an additive category and 𝒞 a full subcategory with split idempotents, and closed under isomorphic images and finite direct sums. We give conditions on ? and 𝒞 implying that ? embeds into an abelian category, so that the objects of 𝒞 turn into injective objects. This construction generalizes the embedding of exactly definable categories into locally coherent categories, while the dual construction generalizes the embedding of finitely accessible categories into Grothendieck categories with a family of finitely generated projective generators. As applications, we characterize exactly definable categories through intrinsic properties and study those locally coherent categories whose fp-injective objects form a Grothendieck category.