A universal space for plus-constructions (Q1292700)

This paper explores a relatively new universal construction in topology and relates it to \textit{D. Quillen's} more familiar plus construction [Actes Congr. Internat. Math. 1970, 2, 47-51 (1971; Zbl 0225.18011)]. The new one, developed by Bousfield, Dror Farjoun and others, is built up using function spaces. Given a map \(f: W\to U\), one says that a space \(L\) is \(f\)-local if the induced map of function spaces, \(\text{map}(U,L)\to \text{map}(W,L)\), is a weak homotopy equivalence. It is possible to assign to each space \(X\) an \(f\)-local space \(L_fX\) and a homotopy universal map \(X\to L_fX\). When \(f\) has the form \(W\to*\), \(L_f\) is called the \(W\)-nullification functor and is denoted by \(P_W\). Alternatively, given a fixed \(W\), the \(W\)-nullification of a space \(X\) is a map of \(X\) to a space \(P_WX\), where the based function space, \(\text{map}_*(W, P_WX)\), is weakly contractible and \(P_WX\) is initial in the homotopy category of spaces under \(X\) with this property. Quillen's plus construction \(X\to X^+\) with respect to the largest perfect subgroup of \(\pi_1(X)\) is a nullification functor: for any appropriate representation \(W\) of the wedge of all acyclic spaces, \(P_WX\) and \(X^+\) agree up to homotopy. Better, the authors produce such a two-dimensional Eilenberg-MacLane space \(W= K({\mathcal F},1)\), where \({\mathcal F}\) is a locally free perfect group. Moreover, using the nullity class of a group \(G\) (namely, the class of all groups \(G'\) such that \(\Hom(G,R)\) is trivial if and only if \(\Hom(G',R)\) is trivial), they show that there is precisely one nullity class of locally free perfect groups \({\mathcal F}\) such that \(K({\mathcal F},1)\)-nullification is naturally isomorphic to the plus construction. Other results include the following. For an acyclic space \(W\), \(W\)-nullification of \(X\) is the plus construction for some perfect normal subgroup of \(\pi_1(X)\). Moreover, this feature measures the acyclicity, in that, when connected, \(W\) is acyclic if and only if \(W\)-nullification invariably is an integral homology isomorphism.