A colimit of classifying spaces

DOI10.1016/J.AIM.2009.11.003MaRDI QIDQ962143zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Roman Mikhailov, Graham Ellis

Publication date 6 April 2010

Published in Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0804.3581

zbMATH Keywords

combinatorial group theoryhomotopy colimithomotopy group

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Free nonabelian groups (20E05) Other groups related to topology or analysis (20F38) Homotopy groups of spheres (55Q40) Homotopy groups of special spaces (55Q52) Classifying spaces of groups and (H)-spaces in algebraic topology (55R35) Maps between classifying spaces in algebraic topology (55R37) Topological methods in group theory (57M07)

Abstract: We recall a group-theoretic description of the first non-vanishing homotopy group of a certain (n+1)-ad of spaces and show how it yields several formulae for homotopy and homology groups of specific spaces. In particular we obtain an alternative proof of J. Wu's group-theoretic description of the homotopy groups of a 2-sphere.

Review text

The Seifert-van Kampen theorem is one of the most important tools for computing fundamental groups of spaces given as a union of subspaces. Van Kampen type theorems for higher homotopy groups are an interesting but nontrivial problem. In the 1950s, \textit{H. Toda} [Proc. Japan Acad. 29, 299--304 (1953; Zbl 0053.30201) and J. Inst. Polytechn., Osaka City Univ., Ser. A 6, 101--120 (1955; Zbl 0066.41501)], \textit{M. G. Barratt} and \textit{J. H. C. Whitehead} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 6, 417--439 (1956; Zbl 0072.18002)] made important steps in exploring the first nonvanishing homotopy group of an \((n+1)\)-ad. In the 1980s, \textit{G. Ellis} and \textit{R. Steiner} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 46, 117--136 (1987; Zbl 0622.55010)] generalized the Barratt-Whitehead theorem by removing a certain simply-connected hypothesis. As a continuation of Ellis-Steiner's theorem as well as taking care of an erratum in Ellis-Steiner's paper, this article emphasizes group-theoretic features of higher homotopy groups. An \(m\)-tuple of normal subgroups \((R_1,\dots,R_m)\) of a group \(G\) is called \textit{connected} if either \(m\leq 2\) or \(m\geq 3\) with the property that: for all subsets \(I, J \subseteq \{1,\cdots,m\}\) with \( |I|\geq 2, |J|\geq 1\) \[ \left(\bigcap_{i\in I} R_i \right)\cdot \prod_{j\in J}R_j = \bigcap_{i\in I} \left( R_i\cdot \prod_{j\in J}R_j \right). \] Let \(G\) be a group with normal subgroups \(R_1,\dots,R_n\). Let \(X(G;R_1,\dots,R_n)\) be the homotopy colimit of the cubical diagram obtained from classifying spaces \(B(G/\prod_{i\in I} R_i)\) with the maps \[ B(G/\prod_{i\in I} R_i)\to B(G/\prod_{i'\in I'}R_{i'}) \] induced by the canonical quotient homomorphism \(G/\prod_{i\in I} R_i \twoheadrightarrow G/\prod_{i'\in I'}R_{i'}\) for \(I\subseteq I'\), where \(I\) ranges over all proper subsets \(I \subsetneq \{1,\dots,n\}\). The main result in this article is as follows: Theorem. Let \(G\) be a group with normal subgroups \(R_1,\dots,R_n\) with \(n\geq2\). Let \(X=X(G;R_1,\dots,R_n)\). Suppose that the \((n-1)\)-tuple \[ (R_1,\dots,R_{i-1},R_{i+1},\dots,R_n) \] is connected for each \(1\leq i\leq n\). Then \[ \pi_n(X) \cong \frac{R_1\cap \cdots \cap R_n}{\prod_{I\cup J=\{1,\dots,n\}, {I\cap J=\emptyset}} [\cap_{i\in I}R_i,\cap_{j\in J}R_j]}. \] When \(n=2\), this theorem is the classical result of \textit{R. Brown} and \textit{J.-L. Loday} [Topology 26, 311--335 (1987; Zbl 0622.55009)]. By considering certain canonical choices of normal subgroups of free groups, a result of the reviewer on combinatorial descriptions of (general) homotopy groups of a \(2\)-sphere [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 130, No.3, 489--513 (2001; Zbl 0986.55013)] can be derived from the above theorem. The reviewer would like to add a comment by A. K. Bousfield who asked how to use Brown-Loday's machinery to derive the reviewer's result on combinatorial descriptions of homotopy groups during his private communications with the reviewer in 1995. This article answers Bousfield's question in a perfect way. The above theorem is very important and has more consequences than those that have been given in this article. Some further developments have been made by the reviewer and his coauthors with important applications for establishing certain fundamental connections between (general) homotopy groups of spheres and link groups.

Recommendations

• Modelling and computing homotopy types: I
• Nonabelian algebraic topology
• A purely homotopy-theoretic proof of the Blakers-Massey theorem for n-cubes
• Nonabelian algebraic topology. Filtered spaces, crossed complexes, cubical homotopy groupoids. With contributions by Christopher D. Wensley and Sergei V. Soloviev
• scientific article
• Homotopy properties of subsets of Euclidean spaces
• Homotopical Excision, and Hurewicz Theorems, for n -Cubes of Spaces
• The fundamental groups of one-dimensional spaces
• Bemerkungen zur Algebra und Topologie.
• A proof of the simple connectivity at infinity of \(\text{Out }F_4\)

Cites work

• N-fold Čech derived functors and generalised Hopf type formulas
• A New Proof of a Theorem of W. H. Cockcroft
• A potential smooth counterexample in dimension 4 to the Poincaré conjecture, the Schoenflies conjecture, and the Andrews-Curtis conjecture
• Combinatorial descriptions of homotopy groups of certain spaces
• Compositional Methods in Homotopy Groups of Spheres. (AM-49)
• Coproducts of crossed P-modules: applications to second homotopy groups and to the homology of groups
• Higher Hopf formulae for homology via Galois theory
• Higher-dimensional crossed modules and the homotopy groups of \((n+1)\)- ads
• Homological algebra programming.
• Homology of \((n+1)\)-types and Hopf type formulas
• Homology of multiplicative Lie rings
• Hopf Formulae for the Higher Homology of a Group
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4177387 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 877845 (Why is no real title available?)
• INTERSECTION OF SUBGROUPS IN FREE GROUPS AND HOMOTOPY GROUPS
• On the nilpotent multipliers of a group
• ON THE SECOND HOMOTOPY GROUP
• Spaces with finitely many non-trivial homotopy groups
• The nilpotency of elements of the stable homotopy groups of spheres
• The relativization of \(K_2\)
• Van Kampen theorems for diagrams of spaces

Cited in

(19)

• Van Kampen theorems for diagrams of spaces
• Fundamental group of homotopy colimits.
• Combinatorial group theory and the homotopy groups of finite complexes
• Homotopy theory and generalized dimension subgroups
• Crossed complexes and higher homotopy groupoids as noncommutative tools for higher dimensional local-to-global problems
• Brunnian braids on surfaces.
• Homotopical and combinatorial aspects of the theory of normal series in groups.
• Colimits of abelian groups
• Nonabelian algebraic topology
• (Co)Limit calculations in the category of 2-crossed R-modules
• On symmetric commutator subgroups, braids, links and homotopy groups
• A prismatic classifying space
• Homotopy groups as centers of finitely presented groups.
• Group and Lie algebra filtrations and homotopy groups of spheres
• Homotopy patterns in group theory
• Symmetric ideals in group rings and simplicial homotopy.
• Intersecting subgroups and symmetric commutator subgroups in virtual link groups
• The symmetric commutator homology of link towers and homotopy groups of 3-manifolds
• On homotopy groups of the suspended classifying spaces

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

• GAP

This page was built for publication: A colimit of classifying spaces

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q962143)