Algebra over generalized rings

Abstract

For a commutative ring $A$, we have the category of (bounded-below) chain complexes of $A$-modules $Ch_{+}(A\mymod)$, a closed symmetric monoidal category with a compatible stable Quillen model structure. The associated homotopy category is the derived category $\mathbbm{D}(A\mymod)$, where one inverts all the quasi-isomorphisms, and it has the good description as the chain complexes made up of projective $A$-module in each dimension, and chain maps taken up to chain homotopy. We give here the analogous theory for a (commutative) generalized ring in the sense of \cite{MR3605614}. We refer to the new concept as ``$\aset$''. For an ordinary commutative ring $A$, an $A$-set is just an $A$-module in the usual meaning, and our construction will be equivalent to $\mathbbm{D}(A\mymod)$. For the initial object of the category of generalized rings $\mathbb{F}$ ``the field with one element'', we obtain the category of symmetric spectra, and the associated stable homotopy category with its smash product (an $\mathbb{F}$-set is just a pointed set, i.e. a set $X$ with a distinguish element $O_X\in X$). Thus the analogous theories of stable homotopy and of chain complexes of modules over a commutative ring appear as two sides of the same coin, and moreover, they appear in a context where they interact (via the forgetful functor and its left adjoint - the base change functor). For the ``real integers'' $A=\Z_{\R}$, the $\Z_{\R}$-sets include the symmetric convex subsets of $\R$-vector spaces. We also give the global theory of the derived category of $\bigo_X$-sets, for a generalized scheme $X$, in a way that is based on the local projective model structure.