Galois theory of second order covering maps of simplicial sets (Q1295687)

The classical Galois theory of field extensions and the classification theory of covering spaces are formally examples of one and the same general result as was exploited by Grothendieck in his development of fundamental groups for schemes etc. Coverings of a space \(B\) correspond to \(\pi_1(B)\)-sets where \(\pi_1(B)\) is the fundamental group of \(B\). There are second order analogues of \(\pi_1(B)\), not merely the second homotopy group, but algebraic models of the whole 2-type of \(B\) such as the associated crossed module. There is as yet no developed second order analogue of coverings. This paper is one of the first to propose such a theory. The authors use the generalised Galois theory of the second author to attack categories of Kan fibrations, identifying certain of these as second order coverings. These are classified as hoped by actions of a second order fundamental groupoid. All fibres of second order coverings are groupoids themselves.