arXiv subjects

J. P. May

Publications and source records attributed to J. P. May.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

What are symmetric monoidal categories?

Symmetric monoidal categories have been understood since the 1960's and are central to many branches of mathematics. In particular, the construction of spectra from symmetric monoidal categories is at the heart of algebraic $K$-theory. This construction starts from either categories with an action by a suitable operad $\sP$ or with suitable functors from the category $\sF$ of finite sets to the category $\mathbf{Cat}$ of categories. Infinite loop space theory, which codifies these constructions, led to the invention of $\infty$-categories. So why the title? We shall prove that the $2$-category of symmetric monoidal categories is equivalent (in fact very nearly isomorphic) both to a $2$-category of $\sP$-pseudoalgebras and to an isomorphic $2$-category of strictly special $\sF$-pseudoalgebras. This equivalence underlies a streamlined equivariant and multiplicative enhancement of infinite loop space theory, but it should be of independent interest.

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arXiv2022

Models of G-spectra as presheaves of spectra

Let G be a finite group. We give Quillen equivalent models for the category of G-spectra as categories of spectrally enriched functors from explicitly described domain categories to nonequivariant spectra. Our preferred model is based on equivariant infinite loop space theory applied to elementary categorical data. It recasts equivariant stable homotopy theory in terms of point-set level categories of G-spans and nonequivariant spectra. We also give a more topologically grounded model based on equivariant Atiyah duality.

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arXiv2020

Unital operads, monoids, monads, and bar constructions

We give a description of unital operads in a symmetric monoidal category as monoids in a monoidal category of unital $\Lambda$-sequences. This is a new variant of Kelly's old description of operads as monoids in the monoidal category of symmetric sequences. The monads associated to unital operads are the ones of interest in iterated loop space theory and factorization homology, among many other applications. Our new description of unital operads allows an illuminating comparison between the two-sided monadic bar constructions used in such applications and "classical" monoidal two-sided bar constructions. It also allows a more conceptual understanding of the scanning map central to non-abelian Poincar\'e duality in factorization homology.

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arXiv2017

Enriched model categories and presheaf categories

We collect in one place a variety of known and folklore results in enriched model category theory and add a few new twists. The central theme is a general procedure for constructing a Quillen adjunction, often a Quillen equivalence, between a given V-model category and a category of enriched presheaves in V, where V is any good enriching category. For example, we rederive the result of Schwede and Shipley that reasonable stable model categories are Quillen equivalent to presheaf categories of spectra (alias categories of module spectra) under more general hypotheses. The technical improvements and modifications of general model categorical results given here are applied to equivariant contexts in a pair of sequels, where we indicate various directions of application.

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arXiv2017

Enriched model categories in equivariant contexts

We give a general framework of equivariant model category theory. Our groups G, called Hopf groups, are suitably defined group objects in any well-behaved symmetric monoidal category V. For any V, a discrete group G gives a Hopf group, denoted I[G]. When V is cartesian monoidal, the Hopf groups are just the group objects in V. When V is the category of modules over a commutative ring R, I[G] is the group ring R[G] and the general Hopf groups are the cocommutative Hopf algebras over R. We show how all of the usual constructs of equivariant homotopy theory, both categorical and model theoretic, generalize to Hopf groups for any V. This opens up some quite elementary unexplored mathematical territory, while systematizing more familiar terrain.

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arXiv2017

Equivariant iterated loop space theory and permutative G-categories

We set up operadic foundations for equivariant iterated loop space theory. We start by building up from a discussion of the approximation theorem and recognition principle for V-fold loop G-spaces to several avatars of a recognition principle for infinite loop G-spaces. We then explain what genuine permutative G-categories are and, more generally, what E_{\infty} G-categories are, giving examples showing how they arise. As an application, we prove the equivariant Barratt-Priddy-Quillen theorem as a statement about genuine G-spectra and use it to give a new, categorical, proof of the tom Dieck splitting theorem for suspension G-spectra. Other examples are geared towards equivariant algebraic K-theory.

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arXiv2017

The homotopy theory of equivariant posets

Let $G$ be a discrete group. We prove that the category of $G$-posets admits a model structure that is Quillen equivalent to the standard model structure on $G$-spaces. As is already true nonequivariantly, the three classes of maps defining the model structure are not well understood calculationally. To illustrate, we exhibit some examples of cofibrant and fibrant posets and an example of a non-cofibrant finite poset.

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arXiv2014

Six model structures for DG-modules over DGAs: Model category theory in homological action

In Part 1, we describe six projective-type model structures on the category of differential graded modules over a differential graded algebra A over a commutative ring R. When R is a field, the six collapse to three and are well-known, at least to folklore, but in the general case the new relative and mixed model structures offer interesting alternatives to the model structures in common use. The construction of some of these model structures requires two new variants of the small object argument, an enriched and an algebraic one, and we describe these more generally. In Part 2, we present a variety of theoretical and calculational cofibrant approximations in these model categories. The classical bar construction gives cofibrant approximations in the relative model structure, but generally not in the usual one. In the usual model structure, there are two quite different ways to lift cofibrant approximations from the level of homology modules over homology algebras, where they are classical projective resolutions, to the level of DG-modules over DG-algebras. The new theory makes model theoretic sense of earlier explicit calculations based on one of these constructions. A novel phenomenon we encounter is isomorphic cofibrant approximations with different combinatorial structure such that things proven in one avatar are not readily proven in the other.

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arXiv2014

Categorical models for equivariant classifying spaces

Starting categorically, we give simple and precise models of equivariant classifying spaces. We need these models for work in progress in equivariant infinite loop space theory and equivariant algebraic K-theory, but the models are of independent interest in equivariant bundle theory and especially equivariant covering space theory.

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arXiv2011

A Presheaf Interpretation of the Generalized Freyd Conjecture

We give a generalized version of the Freyd conjecture and a way to think about a possible proof. The essential point is to describe an elementary formal reduction of the question that holds in any triangulated category. There are no new results, but at least one known example drops out quite trivially.

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arXiv2009

What precisely are $E_{\infty}$ ring spaces and $E_{\infty}$ ring spectra?

E infinity ring spectra were defined in 1972, but the term has since acquired several alternative meanings. The same is true of several related terms. The new formulations are not always known to be equivalent to the old ones and even when they are, the notion of "equivalence" needs discussion: Quillen equivalent categories can be quite seriously inequivalent. Part of the confusion stems from a gap in the modern resurgence of interest in E infinity structures. E infinity ring spaces were also defined in 1972 and have never been redefined. They were central to the early applications and they tie in implicitly to modern applications. We summarize the relationships between the old notions and various new ones, explaining what is and is not known. We take the opportunity to rework and modernize many of the early results. New proofs and perspectives are sprinkled throughout.

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arXiv2009

The construction of $E_{\infty}$ ring spaces from bipermutative categories

The construction of E infinity ring spaces and thus E infinity ring spectra from bipermutative categories gives the most highly structured way of obtaining the K-theory commutative ring spectra. The original construction dates from around 1980 and has never been superseded, but the original details are difficult, obscure, and slightly wrong. We rework the construction in a much more elementary fashion.

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arXiv2009

What are $E_{\infty}$ ring spaces good for?

Infinite loop space theory, both additive and multiplicative, arose largely from two basic motivations. One was to solve calculational questions in geometric topology. The other was to better understand algebraic K-theory. The Adams conjecture is intrinsic to the first motivation, and Quillen's proof of that led directly to his original, calculationally accessible, definition of algebraic K-theory. In turn, the infinite loop understanding of algebraic K-theory feeds back into the calculational questions in geometric topology. For example, use of infinite loop space theory leads to a method for determining the characteristic classes for topological bundles (at odd primes) in terms of the cohomology of finite groups. We explain just a little about how all that works, focusing on the central role played by E infinity ring spaces.

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arXiv2004

Parametrized homotopy theory

We give rigorous foundations for parametrized homotopy theory in this monograph. After preliminaries on point-set topology, base change functors, and proper actions of non-compact Lie groups, we develop the homotopy theory of equivariant ex-spaces (spaces over and under a given space) and of equivariant parametrized spectra. We emphasize several issues of independent interest and include much new material on the general theory of topologically enriched model categories. The essential point is to resolve problems in parametrized homotopy theory that have no nonparametrized counterparts. In contrast to previously encountered situations, model theoretic techniques are intrinsically insufficient for this. Instead, a rather intricate blend of model theory and classical homotopy theory is required. Stably, we work with equivariant orthogonal spectra, which are simpler for the purpose than alternative kinds of spectra and give highly structured smash products. We then give a fiberwise duality theorem that allows fiberwise recognition of dualizable and invertible parametrized spectra. This allows application of formal duality theory to the construction and analysis of transfer maps. A construction of fiberwise bundles of spectra plays a central role and leads to a simple conceptual proof of a generalized Wirthmuller isomorphism theorem that calculates the right adjoint to base change along an equivariant bundle with manifold fibers in terms of a shift of the left adjoint. Due to the generality of our bundle theoretic context, the Adams isomorphism theorem relating orbit and fixed point spectra is a direct consequence.

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arXiv2002

Isomorphisms between left and right adjoints

There are many contexts in algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, and homological algebra where one encounters a functor that has both a left and right adjoint, with the right adjoint being isomorphic to a shift of the left adjoint specified by an appropriate ``dualizing object''. Typically the left adjoint is well understood while the right adjoint is more mysterious, and the result identifies the right adjoint in familiar terms. We give a categorical discussion of such results. One essential point is to differentiate between the classical framework that arises in algebraic geometry and a deceptively similar, but genuinely different, framework that arises in algebraic topology. Another is to make clear which parts of the proofs of such results are formal. The analysis significantly simplifies the proofs of particular cases, as we illustrate in a sequel discussing applications to equivariant stable homotopy theory.

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arXiv2002

The Wirthmuller isomorphism revisited

We show how the formal Wirthmuller isomorphism theorem proven in "Isomorphisms between left and right adjoints", by Fausk, Hu, and May, simplifies the proof of the Wirthmuller isomorphism in equivariant stable homotopy theory. Other examples from equivariant stable homotopy theory show that the hypotheses of the formal Wirthmuller and formal Grothendieck isomorphism theorems in the cited paper cannot be weakened.

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arXiv2002

Minimal Atomic Complexes

Hu, Kriz and May recently reexamined ideas implicit in Priddy's elegant homotopy theoretic construction of the Brown-Peterson spectrum at a prime p. They discussed May's notions of nuclear complexes and of cores of spaces, spectra, and commutative S-algebras. Their most striking conclusions, due to Hu and Kriz, were negative: cores are not unique up to equivalence, and BP is not a core of MU considered as a commutative S-algebra, although it is a core of MU considered as a p-local spectrum. We investigate these ideas further, obtaining much more positive conclusions. We show that nuclear complexes have several non-obviously equivalent characterizations. Up to equivalence, they are precisely the irreducible complexes, the minimal atomic complexes, and the Hurewicz complexes with trivial mod p Hurewicz homomorphism above the Hurewicz dimension, which we call complexes with no mod p detectable homotopy. Unlike the notion of a nuclear complex, these other notions are all invariant under equivalence. This simple and conceptual criterion for a complex to be minimal atomic allows us to prove that many familiar spectra, such as ko, eo_2, and BoP at the prime 2, all BP at any prime p, and the indecomposable wedge summands of the suspension spectra of $CP^\infty$ and $HP^\infty$ at any prime p are minimal atomic.

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