arXiv subjects

Thomas Nikolaus

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Nikolaus.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Unbounded Weight Structures: (Re)construction and Completion

We develop a theory of completeness for weight structures on stable categories, dual to the theory of complete $t$-structures. As in the bounded case, we show that complete weight structures are determined by their weight heart, giving rise to a universal construction $A \mapsto K(A)$ that assigns a complete weight category to an additive category and recovers classical examples such as homotopy categories of chain complexes. We also give a general construction of weight structures on presentable stable categories generated by a small set of objects, generalizing a result of Bondarko and Pauksztello. This recovers the standard weight structure on spectra and an exotic one related to Anderson duality. We identify their completions with modules over the (spectral) integral Steenrod algebra. To treat naturally occurring examples - such as derived categories of abelian categories and module categories over ring spectra - which are often only partially weight complete, we introduce the notion of weak $t$-structures. Within this framework, we prove that any stable category equipped with compatible weight and weak $t$-structures, and satisfying left weight completeness and right $t$-completeness, can be reconstructed from its heart via a two-step completion process $A \mapsto \widehat{K}(A)$.

math.AT↗

arXiv2026

Bredon sheaf cohomology

For a finite group $G$, we compute the algebraic $K$-theory of the category of equivariant sheaves on a locally compact Hausdorff $G$-space, generalizing a result of Efimov, and determine the equivariant $E$-theory of the $C^*$-algebra of continuous functions. These invariants admit natural descriptions in terms of a new equivariant cohomology theory, which we call Bredon sheaf cohomology. This theory recovers classical Bredon cohomology for $G$-CW complexes and ordinary sheaf cohomology when $G$ is trivial. We establish its basic structural properties and prove a strong uniqueness theorem: any functor from the category of locally compact Hausdorff $G$-spaces to a dualizable stable category satisfying equivariant open descent and cofiltered compact codescent is equivalent to Bredon sheaf cohomology, generalizing a result of Clausen.

math.KT↗

arXiv2025

Hermitian K-theory for stable $\infty$-categories II: Cobordism categories and additivity

We define Grothendieck-Witt spectra in the setting of Poincaré $\infty$-categories and show that they fit into an extension with a K- and an L-theoretic part. As consequences we deduce localisation sequences for Verdier quotients, and generalisations of Karoubi's fundamental and periodicity theorems for rings in which 2 need not be invertible. Our set-up allows for the uniform treatment of such algebraic examples alongside homotopy-theoretic generalisations: For example, the periodicity theorem holds for complex oriented $\mathrm{E}_1$-rings, and we show that the Grothendieck-Witt theory of parametrised spectra recovers Weiss and Williams' LA-theory. Our Grothendieck-Witt spectra are defined via a version of the hermitian Q-construction, and a novel feature of our approach is to interpret the latter as a cobordism category. This perspective also allows us to give a hermitian version -- along with a concise proof -- of the theorem of Blumberg, Gepner and Tabuada, and provides a cobordism theoretic description of the aforementioned LA-spectra.

math.KT↗

arXiv2025

An Alternative to Spherical Witt Vectors

We give a direct construction of the ring spectrum of spherical Witt vectors of a perfect $\mathbb{F}_p$-algebra R as the completion of the spherical monoid algebra $\mathbb{S}[R]$ of the multiplicative monoid $(R,\cdot)$ at the ideal $I = \mathrm{fib}(\mathbb{S}[R] \to R)$. This generalizes a construction of Cuntz and Deninger. We also use this to give a description of the category of p-complete modules over the spherical Witt vectors and a universal property for spherical Witt vectors as an $\mathbb{E}_1$-ring.

math.AT↗

arXiv2024

On the homotopy type of L-spectra of the integers

We show that quadratic and symmetric L-theory of the integers are related by Anderson duality and show that both spectra split integrally into the L-theory of the real numbers and a generalised Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum. As a consequence, we obtain a corresponding splitting of the space G/Top. Finally, we prove analogous results for the genuine L-spectra recently devised for the study of Grothendieck--Witt theory.

math.AT↗

arXiv2024

Trace methods for stable categories I: The linear approximation of algebraic K-theory

We study algebraic K-theory and topological Hochschild homology in the setting of bimodules over a stable category, a datum we refer to as a laced category. We show that in this setting both K-theory and THH carry universal properties, the former defined in terms of additivity and the latter via trace properties. We then use these universal properties in order to construct a trace map from laced K-theory to THH, and show that it exhibits THH as the first Goodwillie derivative of laced K-theory in the bimodule direction, generalizing the celebrated identification of stable K-theory by Dundas-McCarthy, a result which is the entryway to trace methods.

math.AT↗

arXiv2024

Maps between spherical group rings

We prove that for finitely generated abelian groups $A$ and $B$, the space of $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-ring maps between the spherical groups rings $\mathbb{S}[A] \to \mathbb{S}[B]$ is equivalent to the discrete set of group homomorphisms $A \to B$. We also prove generalizations where the sphere is replaced by other ring spectra, e.g. we give a formula for the strict units in group rings of the form $R[A]$ for $A$ a finite $p$-group and $R$ $p$-completely chromatically complete.

math.AT↗

arXiv2024

On the $K$-theory of $\mathbf{Z}/p^n$

We give an explicit algebraic description, based on prismatic cohomology, of the algebraic K-groups of rings of the form $O_K/I$ where $K$ is a p-adic field and $I$ is a non-trivial ideal in the ring of integers $O_K$; this class includes the rings $\mathbf{Z}/p^n$ where $p$ is a prime. The algebraic description allows us to describe a practical algorithm to compute individual K-groups as well as to obtain several theoretical results: the vanishing of the even K-groups in high degrees, the determination of the orders of the odd K-groups in high degrees, and the degree of nilpotence of $v_1$ acting on the mod $p$ syntomic cohomology of $\mathbf{Z}/p^n$.

math.KT↗

arXiv2023

Witt vectors with coefficients and TR

We give a new construction of $p$-typical Witt vectors with coefficients in terms of ghost maps and show that this construction is isomorphic to the one defined in terms of formal power series from the authors' previous paper. We show that our construction recovers Kaledin's polynomial Witt vectors in the case of vector spaces over a perfect field of characteristic $p$. We then identify the components of the $p$-typical TR with coefficients, originally defined by Lindenstrauss and McCarthy and later reworked by the second and third authors in joint work with McCandless, with the $p$-typical Witt vectors with coefficients. This extends a celebrated result of Hesselholt and Hesselholt-Madsen relating the components of TR with the Witt vectors. As an application, we given an algebraic description of the components of the Hill-Hopkins-Ravenel norm for cyclic $p$-groups in terms of $p$-typical Witt vectors with coefficients.

math.AT↗

arXiv2023

Prismatic cohomology relative to $\delta$-rings

We develop prismatic and syntomic cohomology relative to a $\delta$-ring. This simultaneously generalizes Bhatt and Scholze's absolute and relative prismatic cohomology and shows that the latter, which was defined relative to a prism, is in fact independent of the prism structure and only depends on the underlying $\delta$-ring. We give several possible definitions of our new version of prismatic cohomology: a site theoretic definition, one using prismatic crystals, and a stack theoretic definition. These are equivalent under mild syntomicity hypotheses. As an application, we note how the theory of prismatic cohomology of filtered rings arises naturally in this context.

math.AG↗

arXiv2023

Principal infinity-bundles -- General theory

The theory of principal bundles makes sense in any infinity-topos, such as that of topological, of smooth, or of otherwise geometric infinity-groupoids/infinity-stacks, and more generally in slices of these. It provides a natural geometric model for structured higher nonabelian cohomology and controls general fiber bundles in terms of associated bundles. For suitable choices of structure infinity-group G these G-principal infinity-bundles reproduce the theories of ordinary principal bundles, of bundle gerbes/principal 2-bundles and of bundle 2-gerbes and generalize these to their further higher and equivariant analogs. The induced associated infinity-bundles subsume the notions of gerbes and higher gerbes in the literature. We discuss here this general theory of principal infinity-bundles, intimately related to the axioms of Giraud, Toen-Vezzosi, Rezk and Lurie that characterize infinity-toposes. We show a natural equivalence between principal infinity-bundles and intrinsic nonabelian cocycles, implying the classification of principal infinity-bundles by nonabelian sheaf hyper-cohomology. We observe that the theory of geometric fiber infinity-bundles associated to principal infinity-bundles subsumes a theory of infinity-gerbes and of twisted infinity-bundles, with twists deriving from local coefficient infinity-bundles, which we define, relate to extensions of principal infinity-bundles and show to be classified by a corresponding notion of twisted cohomology, identified with the cohomology of a corresponding slice infinity-topos. In a companion article [NSSb] we discuss explicit presentations of this theory in categories of simplicial (pre)sheaves by hyper-Cech cohomology and by simplicial weakly-principal bundles; and in [NSSc] we discuss various examples and applications of the theory.

math.AT↗

arXiv2023

Polygonic spectra and TR with coefficients

We introduce the notion of a polygonic spectrum which is designed to axiomatize the structure on topological Hochschild homology $\mathrm{THH}(R,M)$ of an $\mathbb{E}_1$-ring $R$ with coefficients in an $R$-bimodule $M$. For every polygonic spectrum $X$, we define a spectrum $\mathrm{TR}(X)$ as the mapping spectrum from the polygonic version of the sphere spectrum $\mathbb{S}$ to $X$. In particular if applied to $X = \mathrm{THH}(R,M)$ this gives a conceptual definition of $\mathrm{TR}(R,M)$. Every cyclotomic spectrum gives rise to a polygonic spectrum and we prove that TR agrees with the classical definition of TR in this case. We construct Frobenius and Verschiebung maps on $\mathrm{TR}(X)$ by exhibiting $\mathrm{TR}(X)$ as the $\mathbb{Z}$-fixedpoints of a quasifinitely genuine $\mathbb{Z}$-spectrum. The notion of quasifinitely genuine $\mathbb{Z}$-spectra is a new notion that we introduce and discuss inspired by a similar notion over $\mathbb{Z}$ introduced by Kaledin. Besides the usual coherences for genuine spectra, this notion additionally encodes that $\mathrm{TR}(X)$ admits certain infinite sums of Verschiebung maps.

math.AT↗

arXiv2022

L-theory of $C^*$-algebras

We establish a formula for the L-theory spectrum of real $C^*$-algebras from which we deduce a presentation of the L-groups in terms of the topological K-groups, extending all previously known results of this kind. Along the way, we extend the integral comparison map $\tau\colon \mathrm{k} \to \mathrm{L}$ obtained in previous work by the first two authors to real $C^*$-algebras and interpret it using topological Grothendieck-Witt theory. Finally, we use our results to give an integral comparison between the Baum-Connes conjecture and the L-theoretic Farrell-Jones conjecture, and discuss our comparison map $\tau$ in terms of the signature operator on oriented manifolds.

math.KT↗

arXiv2022

K-theory and polynomial functors

We show that the algebraic K-theory space of stable infinity-categories is canonically functorial in polynomial functors. As a consequence, we obtain a new proof of Bökstedt's calculation of $\mathrm{THH}(\mathbb{F}_p)$.

math.KT↗

arXiv2022

On the K-theory of $\mathbb{Z}/p^n$ -- announcement

We announce new methods for using prismatic cohomology to compute the K-groups of $\mathbb{Z}/p^n$ and related rings. We use computer algebra methods to compute these K-groups through a large range in specific cases and also obtain explicit formulas for their orders in large degrees.

math.KT↗

arXiv2021

Hermitian K-theory for stable $\infty$-categories I: Foundations

This paper is the first in a series in which we offer a new framework for hermitian K-theory in the realm of stable $\infty$-categories. Our perspective yields solutions to a variety of classical problems involving Grothendieck-Witt groups of rings and clarifies the behaviour of these invariants when 2 is not invertible. In this article we lay the foundations of our approach by considering Lurie's notion of a Poincaré $\infty$-category, which permits an abstract counterpart of unimodular forms called Poincaré objects. We analyse the special cases of hyperbolic and metabolic Poincaré objects, and establish a version of Ranicki's algebraic Thom construction. For derived $\infty$-categories of rings, we classify all Poincaré structures and study in detail the process of deriving them from classical input, thereby locating the usual setting of forms over rings within our framework. We also develop the example of visible Poincaré structures on $\infty$-categories of parametrised spectra, recovering the visible signature of a Poincaré duality space. We conduct a thorough investigation of the global structural properties of Poincaré $\infty$-categories, showing in particular that they form a bicomplete, closed symmetric monoidal $\infty$-category. We also study the process of tensoring and cotensoring a Poincaré $\infty$-category over a finite simplicial complex, a construction featuring prominently in the definition of the L- and Grothendieck-Witt spectra that we consider in the next instalment. Finally, we define already here the 0-th Grothendieck-Witt group of a Poincaré $\infty$-category using generators and relations. We extract its basic properties, relating it in particular to the 0-th L- and algebraic K-groups, a relation upgraded in the second instalment to a fibre sequence of spectra which plays a key role in our applications.

math.KT↗

arXiv2021

On the Beilinson fiber square

Using topological cyclic homology, we give a refinement of Beilinson's $p$-adic Goodwillie isomorphism between relative continuous $K$-theory and cyclic homology. As a result, we generalize results of Bloch-Esnault-Kerz and Beilinson on the $p$-adic deformations of $K$-theory classes. Furthermore, we prove structural results for the Bhatt-Morrow-Scholze filtration on $TC$ and identify the graded pieces with the syntomic cohomology of Fontaine-Messing.

math.KT↗

arXiv2020

Lax colimits and free fibrations in $\infty$-categories

We define and discuss lax and weighted colimits of diagrams in $\infty$-categories and show that the coCartesian fibration associated to a functor is given by its lax colimit. A key ingredient, of independent interest, is a simple characterization of the free Cartesian fibration associated to a a functor of $\infty$-categories. As an application of these results, we prove that lax representable functors are preserved under exponentiation, and also that the total space of a presentable Cartesian fibration between $\infty$-categories is presentable, generalizing a theorem of Makkai and Paré to the $\infty$-categorical setting. Lastly, in the appendix, we observe that pseudofunctors between (2,1)-categories give rise to functors between $\infty$-categories via the Duskin nerve.

math.CT↗