The compactness locus of a geometric functor and the formal construction of the Adams isomorphism

Abstract

We introduce the compactness locus of a geometric functor between rigidly-compactly generated tensor-triangulated categories, and describe it for several examples arising in equivariant homotopy theory and algebraic geometry. It is a subset of the tensor-triangular spectrum of the target category which, crudely speaking, measures the failure of the functor to satisfy Grothendieck-Neeman duality (or equivalently, to admit a left adjoint). We prove that any geometric functor --- even one which does not admit a left adjoint --- gives rise to a Wirthm\"uller isomorphism once one passes to a colocalization of the target category determined by the compactness locus. When applied to the inflation functor in equivariant stable homotopy theory, this produces the Adams isomorphism.