Configuration spaces of clusters as $E_d$-algebras

Abstract

It is a classical result that configuration spaces of labelled particles in $\mathbb{R}^d$ are free $E_d$-algebras and that their $d$-fold bar construction is equivalent to the $d$-fold suspension of the labelling space. In this paper, we study a variation of these spaces, namely configuration spaces of labelled clusters of particles. These configuration spaces are again $E_d$-algebras, and we give geometric models for their iterated bar construction in two different ways: one establishes a description of these configuration spaces of clusters as cellular $E_1$-algebras, and the other one uses an additional verticality constraint. In the last section, we apply these results in order to calculate the stable homology of certain vertical configuration spaces.