$E_n$-Hopf invariants

Abstract

The classical Hopf invariant is an invariant of homotopy classes of maps from $S^{4n-1} $ to $S^{2n}$, and is an important invariant in homotopy theory. The goal of this paper is to use the Koszul duality theory for $E_n$-operads to define a generalization of the classical Hopf invariant. One way of defining the classical Hopf invariant is by defining a pairing between the cohomology of the associative bar construction on the cochains of a space $X$ and the homotopy groups of $X$. In this paper we will give a generalization of the classical Hopf invariant by defining a pairing between the cohomology of the $E_n$-bar construction on the cochains of $X$ and the homotopy groups of $X$. This pairing gives us a set of invariants of homotopy classes of maps from $S^m$ to a simplicial set $X$, this pairing can detect more homotopy classes of maps than the classical Hopf invariant. The second part of the paper is devoted to combining the $E_n$-Hopf invariants with the Koszul duality theory for $E_n$-operads to get a relation between the $E_n$-Hopf invariants of a space $X$ and the $E_{n+1}$-Hopf invariants of the suspension of $X$. This is done by studying the suspension morphism for the $E_\infty$-operad, which is a morphism from the $E_{\infty}$-operad to the desuspension of the $E_\infty$-operad. We show that it induces a functor from $E_\infty$-algebras to $E_\infty$-algebras, which has the property that it sends an $E_\infty$-model for a simplicial set $X$ to an $E_\infty$-model for the suspension of $X$. We use this result to give a relation between the $E_n$-Hopf invariants of maps from $S^m$ into $X$ and the $E_{n+1}$-Hopf invariants of maps from $S^{m+1}$ into the suspension of $X$. One of the main results we show here, is that this relation can be used to define invariants of stable homotopy classes of maps.