Universality of multiplicative infinite loop space machines (Q907762)

Infinite loop space machines and their multiplicative properties have been studied by many homotopy theorists in the last 40 years. An infinite loop space machine is a construction that produces a spectrum from a permutative category or an \(\mathbb E_{\infty}\) space. For example, the algebraic \(K\)-theory spectrum of a ring \(R\) arises from the category of isomorphism classes of finitely generated projective \(R\)-modules equipped with the permutative structure given by the direct sum. It is an important question if this passage to spectra is multiplicative, i.e., if a compatible multiplicative structure on the input (like the tensor product of modules in the \(K\)-theory example) gives rise to a ring spectrum structure on the output. This question leads to non-trivial coherence issues, as for example explained by \textit{R. W. Thomason} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 80, 569--573 (1980; Zbl 0469.18008)]. First solutions to this problem have been given by May in the 1980s by providing sophisticated point set level constructions. A good account on the history of these constructions and their corrections can be found in [\textit{J. P. May}, Geom. Topol. Monogr. 16, 283--330 (2009; Zbl 1206.55014)]. In the paper under review, the authors treat (multiplicative) infinite loop space machines in the setup of \(\infty\)-categories and show that this viewpoint allows to give elegant descriptions of many of the relevant constructions and structures. The main idea of their approach is as follows. Recall that a presentable \(\infty\)-category is an \(\infty\)-category that corresponds to a combinatorial model category, and let \(\roman{Pr}^L\) be the category of presentable \(\infty\)-categories and left adjoint functors. The authors consider the following four full subcategories of \(\roman{Pr}^L\): The subcategory of pointed \(\infty\)-categories \(\roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Pt}}\), the subcategory of pre-additive \(\infty\)-categories \(\roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Pre}}\), the subcategory of additive \(\infty\)-categories \(\roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Add}}\), and the subcategory of stable \(\infty\)-categories \(\roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{St}}\). Pointed and stable \(\infty\)-categories have been studied in detail by Lurie. The pre-additive and additive \(\infty\)-categories are defined by imposing exactness conditions on pointed \(\infty\)-categories, and various of their properties are established in the paper under review. The authors show that each of the four subcategories corresponds to a smashing localization of \(\roman{Pr}^L\). In particular, there are corresponding localization functors \[ \mathcal C\mapsto \mathcal C_*, \quad \mathcal C \mapsto \roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C), \quad \mathcal C \mapsto \roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C), \quad \text{and} \quad \mathcal C \mapsto \roman{Sp}(\mathcal C) \] that assign to \(\mathcal C\) the free pointed \(\infty\)-category \(\mathcal C_*\) on \(\mathcal C\), the free pre-additive \(\infty\)-category \(\roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C)\) on \(\mathcal C\), the free additive \(\infty\)-category \(\roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C)\), and the free stable \(\infty\)-category (or stabilization) \(\roman{Sp}(\mathcal C)\) of \(\mathcal C\). The fact that there are inclusions \[ \roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{St}} \subset \roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Add}} \subset \roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Pre}}\subset \roman{Pr}^L_{\roman{Pt}} \subset \roman{Pr}^L \] implies that for a presentable \(\infty\)-category \(\mathcal C\), there are functors \[ \mathcal C \to \mathcal C_* \to \roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \to \roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \to \roman{Sp}(\mathcal C) \] that factor the stabilization \(\mathcal C \to \roman{Sp}(\mathcal C)\). The middle functor \(\roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \to \roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \) is the group completion functor, and has the expected universal property since it is left adjoint to the forgetful functor. Up to this point, only the \(\infty\)-categorical product in the category \(\mathcal C\) was used. If \(\mathcal C\) also has a closed symmetric monoidal structure \(\otimes\) (which can be equal to the product), then the fact that the above localizations are smashing implies that each of the \(\infty\)-categories in the sequence \[ \mathcal C_* \to \roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \to \roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C) \to \roman{Sp}(\mathcal C) \] inherits a closed symmetric monoidal structure from \(\otimes\), and that each of the functors in the sequence respects this monoidal structure. In particular, these monoidal structures allow to consider operad algebras in each of these categories. For the little \(n\)-disks operad \(\mathbb E_n\), the \(\mathbb E_n\)-algebras in \(\roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C)\) model \(\mathbb E_n\)-semiring objects in \(\mathcal C\), the \(\mathbb E_n\)-algebras in \(\roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal C)\) model \(\mathbb E_n\)-ring objects in \(\mathcal C\), and the \(\mathbb E_n\)-algebras in \( \roman{Sp}(\mathcal C)\) model \(\mathbb E_n\)-ring spectrum objects in \(\mathcal C\). If \(\mathcal C\) is the \(\infty\)-category of spaces \(\mathcal S\) with the cartesian product, then the above considerations specialize to results about infinite loop spaces machines in the classical sense. In this case, \(\roman{Grp}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal S)\) models the category of connective spectra and the resulting symmetric monoidal product is the smash product of connective spectra. The fact that \(\roman{Mon}_{\mathbb E_{\infty}}(\mathcal S) \to \roman{Sp}(\mathcal S)\) is symmetric monoidal implies that the spectrum associated with an \(\mathbb E_n\)-semiring space is an \(\mathbb E_n\)-ring spectrum, which would be highly intricate to prove using point set level constructions for infinite loops space machines. The paper is well-written. Inevitably, it assumes knowledge about some of the results about \(\infty\)-categories that have been developed by Lurie. Altogether, the paper is one of the occasions where the use of \(\infty\)-categories leads to a cleaner and better understanding of classical constructions.