Obstructions to coherence: Natural noncoherent associativity (Q1973365)

The author starts with the definition of associative categories. These are categories with a tensor product \(\otimes\) and a natural associativity which does not necessarily obey the pentagon identities of monoidal categories. He studies so-called Catalan groupoids \(A_n\) consisting of associations of \(n\) copies of a fixed symbol and reassociations between these associations. These categories are constructed in a similar way as Stasheff's complexes used in the theory of homotopy associativity of \(H\)-spaces. Out of \(\{A_n\}_{n\in {\mathbb N}}\) the author constructs the free associative category \(\overline {\mathcal A}\) on one generator. \(\overline {\mathcal A}\) has a universal property in that there exists a unique (strict) tensor functor from \(\overline {\mathcal A}\) to the category of iterates over an associative category \({\mathcal B}\) such that the generators and the reassociations will be mapped canonically. Furthermore \(\{A_n\}_{n\in {\mathbb N}}\) has the structure of a non-\(\Sigma\) non-unital operad in \({\mathcal C}at\). Using the operad structure the 2-sketch \(A\) of the theory of associative categories will be constructed. Similar techniques as for the calculation of fundamental groups of simplicial complexes will be exploited to calculate the fundamental groups of the various \(A_n\). The morphisms of \(A_n\) are the generators of the fundamental group. The explicit structure of these groups has been calculated for the first seven groupoids \(A_n\).