Categorical sequences

DOI10.2140/AGT.2006.6.809MaRDI QIDQ863038zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Rob Nendorf, Nick Scoville, Jeffrey Strom

Publication date 25 January 2007

Published in Algebraic \& Geometric Topology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.0619

Lusternik-Schnirelmann category rational homotopy

Lyusternik-Shnirel'man category of a space, topological complexity à la Farber, topological robotics (topological aspects) (55M30) Rational homotopy theory (55P62)

Abstract: We define and study the categorical sequence of a space, which is a new formalism that streamlines the computation of the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of a space X by induction on its CW skeleta. The k-th term in the categorical sequence of a CW complex X, sigma_X(k), is the least integer n for which cat_X(X_n) >= k. We show that sigma_X is a well-defined homotopy invariant of X. We prove that sigma_X(k+l) >= sigma_X(k) + sigma_X(l), which is one of three keys to the power of categorical sequences. In addition to this formula, we provide formulas relating the categorical sequences of spaces and some of their algebraic invariants, including their cohomology algebras and their rational models; we also find relations between the categorical sequences of the spaces in a fibration sequence and give a preliminary result on the categorical sequence of a product of two spaces in the rational case. We completely characterize the sequences which can arise as categorical sequences of formal rational spaces. The most important of the many examples that we offer is a simple proof of a theorem of Ghienne: if X is a member of the Mislin genus of the Lie group Sp(3), then cat(X) = cat(Sp(3)).

Review text

The categorical sequence of a space \(X\) is the function \(\sigma_X : \mathbb N \to \mathbb N \cup \{ \infty\}\) defined by \(\sigma_X(k) = \) inf\( \{n\,|\, \text{cat}_X(X_n) \geq k\}\), where \(\text{cat}_X(X_n)\) is the category of \(X_n\) relative to \(X\). The function \(\sigma_X\) is a well-defined homotopy invariant of \(X\) and the description of its properties is the object of the paper under review. A related notion is the product length sequence of a non-negatively graded commutative algebra \(A\) defined by setting \(\sigma_A(k)\) to be the least dimension \(n\) for which the \(n^{th}\) grading \(A^n\) contains a non-trivial \(k\)-fold product. Then for any ring \(R\), \(\sigma_X \leq \sigma_{H^*(X;R)}\). On the other hand, if \(A\) is the minimal model of a rational space \(X\), then \(\sigma_X \geq \sigma_A\). The main Theorem of the paper contains three very useful properties of \(\sigma_X\) that make its computation quite easy and are very useful for the computation of the category of a space. The properties (b) and (c) of the Theorem are only valid in a set theory where the Whitehead problem has a positive solution (\(\text{Ext}(A,\mathbb Z) = 0\) implies \(A\) is free). Theorem: For any space \(X\), (a) \(\sigma_X(k+\ell) \geq \sigma_X(k)+\sigma_X(\ell)\), (b) if \(X\) is simply connected and \(\sigma_X(k)=n\), then \(H^n(X;A)\neq 0\) for some \(A\), (c) if equality occurs in (a) and \(X\) is 1-connected, then the cap product \(H^k(X;A) \otimes H^{\ell}(X;B)\to H^{k+\ell}(X; A\otimes B)\) is nontrivial for some choice of coefficients.

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