Twisted Spectra Revisited

Abstract

We recapture Douglas' framework for twisted parametrized stable homotopy theory in the language of $\infty$- categories. A twisted spectrum is essentially a section of a bundle of presentable stable $\infty$-categories whose fiber is the $\infty$-category of spectra, a perspective we refine in this work. We recover some of Douglas' results on classifications of such bundles, as well as further make precise the identification of categories of twisted spectra with module categories over Thom spectra in the pointed connected case. Furthermore, we examine subtle aspects of the functoriality which arise by virtue of being fibered over the Brauer space of the sphere spectrum. Extending beyond the scope of Douglas's work, we introduce a total category of twisted spectra over a fixed space, where we allow the twists to vary, and show that these total categories themselves satisfy the essential features of a 6-functor formalism. We also introduce an $(\infty, 2)$-category of twisted spectra, and use this framework to discuss duality theory for these type of objects.