Polynomial functors in manifold calculus (Q1790234)

Let \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\) be the poset of open subsets of a smooth manifold \(M\). Manifold calculus, developed by T. Goodwillie and M. Weiss, studies contravariant functors (cofunctors) from \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\) to the category of spaces. In manifold calculus, a polynomial cofunctor \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\to \text{Spaces}\) is a contravariant functor satisfying higher-order excision. By [\textit{M. Weiss}, Geom. Topol. 3, 67--101 (1999; Zbl 0927.57027)], polynomial cofunctors of degree \(\leq k\) are determined by their values on \({\mathcal{O}}_k(M)\), where \({\mathcal{O}}_k(M)\) is the full subposet of \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\) whose objects are the open subsets of \(M\) diffeomorphic to the disjoint union of at most \(k\) balls. This result was generalized in [Bull. Belg. Math. Soc. - Simon Stevin 22, No. 1, 89--103 (2015; Zbl 1321.55009)] by \textit{D. Pryor} who proved that \({\mathcal{O}}_k(M)\) can be replaced by more general subposets. In this paper, the authors first generalize the results of Weiss and Pryor to cofunctors from \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\) to any simplicial model category \({\mathcal{M}}\). They conjecture that their result holds also if \({\mathcal{M}}\) is replaced by any model category. Let then \(F_k(M)\) denote the unordered configuration space of \(k\) points in \(M\). The authors show that the category of homogeneous cofunctors \({\mathcal{O}}(M)\to {\mathcal{M}}\) of degree \(k\) is weakly equivalent to the category of linear cofunctors \({\mathcal{O}}(F_k(M))\to {\mathcal{M}}\), assuming the simplicial model category \({\mathcal{M}}\) has a zero object. Finally, the authors show that if \(F: {\mathcal{O}}_k(M)\to {\mathcal{M}}\) is an isotopy cofunctor, where \({\mathcal{M}}\) is a general model category, then also the homotopy right Kan extension of \(F\) along the inclusion \({\mathcal{O}}_k(M)\hookrightarrow {\mathcal{O}}(M)\) is an isotopy cofunctor.