Derived Azumaya algebras and twisted \(K\)-theory (Q2001590)

\textit{A. Blanc} [Compos. Math. 152, No. 3, 489--555 (2016; Zbl 1343.14003)] develops a topological \(K\)-theory of dg-categories over the complex numbers: a functor \[ K^{top}\colon (\mathbb{C}\text{-linear dg-categories}) \to \text{Spectra} \] which, when evaluated on the category \(\mathrm{Perf}(X)\) of perfect complexes over a complex scheme \(X\), yields the usual complex topological K-theory of the space of complex points \(X(\mathbb{C})\). That is: \[ K^{top}(\mathrm{Perf}(X))\cong KU(X(\mathbb{C})) \] The main contributions of the paper under review are: \textbf{(1) A relative version of Blanc's \(K\)-theory.} The complex numbers are replaced by an arbitrary complex scheme \(X\), instead of \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear categories we consider \(\mathrm{Perf}(X)\)-linear categories as input, and the output is a sheaf of spectra on \(X(\mathbb{C})\). \textbf{(2) A generalization of the above identification to twisted \(K\)-theory.} Blanc's \(K\)-theory of certain twisted forms of \(\mathrm{Perf}(X)\) is identified with twisted forms of the complex topological \(K\)-theory of \(X(\mathbb{C})\). In fact, this result is obtained from a more general, relative statement. The twisted forms of \(\mathrm{Perf}(X)\) are categories of modules over Azumaya algebras over \(X\). \textbf{(3) A purely topological projective bundle formula.} As a corollary of the above results, it is shown that the complex \(K\)-theory of a projective bundle over a finite CW complex \(X\) decomposes into a direct sum of twisted forms of the complex \(K\)-theory of \(X\). This generalizes the well-known projective bundle formula for projectivizations of vector bundles, and is a purely topological analogue of Quillen's computation of the algebraic K-theory of Severi-Brauer bundles [\textit{D. Quillen}, in: Cohomology of groups and algebraic \(K\)-theory. Selected papers of the international summer school on cohomology of groups and algebraic \(K\)-theory, Hangzhou, China, July 1--3, 2007. Somerville, MA: International Press; Beijing: Higher Education Press. 413--478 (2010; Zbl 1198.19001)]. It is obtained from the results above by observing that any such projective bundle is classified by a map to the classifying space of a projective linear group, and that this classifying space can be approximated by complex schemes.