Nerves of 2-categories and 2-categorification of \(( \infty ,2)\)-categories (Q2232700)

Any small category yields a simplicial set, namely its nerve, and this is a foundational example of a quasi-category and, thus, a simplicial model of an \((\infty,1)\)-category. The nerve gives a fully faithful functor from \(Cat\) to the category, \(Sets^{\Delta^{op}}\), of simplicial sets. Several higher dimensional generalisations of this have been formulated, notably by Street, and Duskin, in which \(C\) is now to be a strict 2-category and the nerve will be a 3-coskeletal simplicial set, but unlike the 1-dimensional case, the Street-Duskin nerve is not fully faithful. This can be adjusted by considering instead of \(Sets^{\Delta^{op}}\), a category of marked simplicial sets and again here there are several possible approaches. \textit{D. Verity} [Complicial sets characterising the simplicial nerves of strict \(\omega\)-categories. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2008; Zbl 1138.18005)], showed there was a fully faithful nerve from \(2\!-\!Cat\) to such a category of what he called complicial sets when using a modified nerve functor called here the Roberts-Street nerve, yet this still does not completely solve the problem as that nerve does not have good homotopical properties and, for instance, not all 2-categories have Roberts-Street nerves that are \((\infty,2)\)-categories. The authors in an earlier paper, [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 20, No. 3, 1543--1600 (2020; Zbl 1441.18032)], introduced a variant of Verity's notion of \(n\)-complicial set that they called an \(n\)-precomplicial set. Here they show that the Street nerve can be used to embed the canonical (Lack) homotopy theory of 2-categories in that of \((\infty,2)\)-categories, modelled by 2-precomplicial sets. They show that the Lack model category structure on strict 2-categories is right transferred from that on \((\infty,2)\)-categories / 2-precomplicial sets.