Approximating rational spaces with elliptic complexes and conjecture of Anick (Q1382063)

Recall that a space is elliptic if its rational homotopy and rational homology are totally finite dimensional. All homogeneous spaces of compact Lie groups are elliptic, for example. While elliptic spaces are very special, some time ago, David Anick conjectured that every finite complex occurs as a skeleton of an elliptic complex. Following a suggestion of C. McGibbon, the authors of this paper turn the question into the homotopical one of approximating spaces by \(n\)-equivalences into or out of them. They take as their model the approximation of complexes by their skeleta or by the stages in their Postnikov towers. They first show that, for a class of spaces closed under taking skeleta and Postnikov sections, the ability to approximate each space in the class by maps into is equivalent to approximation by maps out of. Of course, when we say ``approximation'', we refer to an approximation by spaces coming from a chosen and fixed category. The authors then focus on a particular category \(\mathcal M\) of spaces which has proved to be useful in and amenable to rational homotopy theory. For this class of spaces, for which membership is defined in terms of the existence of a very special type of fibration, they show that approximations into by elliptic spaces may be made, implying that approximations out of by elliptic spaces also exist. Thus, the homotopical version of Anick's conjecture is verified for the class \(\mathcal M\).