A Quillen's Theorem A for strict \(\infty\)-categories. I: The simplicial proof (Q1705469)

This paper, immersed in the world of higher category theory, starts with a enlightening introduction on the different approaches in the search for adequate algebraic (categorical) models for homotopy types. Theorem \(A\) of Quillen gives a sufficient condition for the classifying spaces of two categories to be homotopy equivalent. In this paper, the authors prove a generalization of this theorem for strict \(\infty\)-categories, and they do that by using simplicial techniques and the theory of augmented directed complexes by Steiner, which is a higher-dimensional generalisation of the theory of directed graphs. This theorem \(A\) for strict \(\infty\)-categories is central to the homotopy theory in this setting developed by the authors. In this way, they argue that the category of the augmented directed complexes provides the first model for all homotopy types which is completely based on the chain complexes of abelian groups. They also announce, in a subsequent paper, another proof of the same theorem A for \(\infty\)-categories, but by purely \(\infty\)-categorical methods.