Joyal's cylinder conjecture (Q2048611)

For each pair of simplicial sets \(A\) and \(B\), the category \(\boldsymbol{Cyl} (A,B)\) of \textit{cylinders from \(A\) to \(B\)} or \textit{\((A,B)\)-cylinders} is defined to be the fiber of the functor \[ (\partial_{0},\partial_{1}):\boldsymbol{sSet}/\Delta\left[ 1\right] \rightarrow\boldsymbol{sSet}\times\boldsymbol{sSet}. \] \textit{A. Joyal} [``Notes on quasi-categories'', \url{https://www.math.uchicago.edu/\~may/IMA/Joyal.pdf}, \S 14.6] described what is called the Joyal model structure on \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\), giving the following conjecture. Conjecture. A cylinder \(X\in\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) is fibrant iff the canonical morphism \(X\rightarrow A\ast B\) is an inner fibration, and a morphism between fibrant cylinders in \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) is a fibration iff it is an inner fibration. The principal objective in this paper is to settle the above conjecture affirmatively (Theorem 5.5). A synopsis of the paper consisting of six sections together with an appendix goes as follows. The proof of Joyal's conjecture is addressed in \S \S 2--5. \begin{itemize} \item \S 2 constructs, for each pair of simplicial sets \(A\) and \(B\), both the \textit{Joyal model structure} (Theorem 2.10) and the \textit{ambivaliant model structure} (Theorem 2.11). \item \S 3 makes Joyal's observation that the category \(\boldsymbol{Cyl} (A,B)\) of \((A,B)\)-cylinders is equivalent to the category of presheaves over \(\Delta/A\times\Delta/B\) (Proposition 3.16), which is the basis for a deeper analysis of the ambivariant model structure on \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) (\S 3.1). A \textit{Reedy model structure} on \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) is induced from the \textit{covariant model structure} on \(\boldsymbol{sSet}/B\) by making use of the related equivalence of categories \[ \boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\simeq\left[ (\Delta/A)^{\mathrm{op}},\boldsymbol{sSet}/B\right] \] It is established (Theorem 3.20) that the ambivariant model structure on \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) is a \textit{Bousfield localization} of this Reedy model structure, for which the \textit{local objects} are those \((A,B)\)-cylinders whose corresponding functors \[ (\Delta/A)^{\mathrm{op}}\rightarrow\boldsymbol{sSet}/B \] send the \textit{final vertex inclusions} in \(\Delta/A\) to covariant equivalences in \(\boldsymbol{sSet}/B\). \item \S 4 aims to establish that, for each pair of weak categorical equivalences \(u:A\rightarrow A^{\prime}\) and \(v:B\rightarrow B^{\prime}\) in \(\boldsymbol{sSet}\), the pushforward functor \[ (u,v)_{!}:\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\rightarrow \boldsymbol{Cyl}(A^{\prime},B^{\prime}) \] \begin{itemize} \item[(a)] preserves weak categorical equivalences (Proposition 4.2), and \item[(b)] reflects ambivariant equivalences (Theorem 4.7). \end{itemize} \item \S 5 aims to establish (Theorem 5.4) that, for any morphism \(f\) in \(\boldsymbol{Cyl}(A,B)\) and for each pair of weak categorical equivalences \(u:A\rightarrow A^{\prime}\) and \(v:B\rightarrow B^{\prime}\) in \(\boldsymbol{sSet}\) such that \(A^{\prime}\) and \(B^{\prime}\) are quasi-categories, we have \begin{align*} f\text{ is a weak categorical equivalence} & \Rightarrow(u,v)_{!}(f)\text{ is weak categorical equivalence} \Rightarrow\\ (u,v)_{!}(f)\text{ is ambivariant equivalence} & \Rightarrow f\text{ is a ambivariant equivalence} \end{align*} completing the proof of Joyal's conjecture. \item \S 6 gives a new direct proof (Theorem 6.5) of a characterization of covariant equivalences of \textit{J. Lurie} [Higher topos theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2009; Zbl 1175.18001), Chapter 2] avoiding the use of the straightening theorem [loc. cit., Theorem 2.2.1.2]. \item Appendix introduces and studies a new family of model structures on the slice category $\boldsymbol{sSet}/B$, which is called the \textit{parametrized Joyal model structures}, whose fibrant objects are the inner fibrations with codomain $B$\ (Theorem A.7). Using this family of model structures, the author defines a new class of morphisms of simplicial sets, called the \textit{absolute weak categorical equivalences}, using which the author establishes some new results concerning inner anodyne extensions and inner fibrations on the basis of [\textit{A. Campbell}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 148, No. 1, 37--40 (2020; Zbl 1444.18025)] while a new proof of a theorem [\textit{D. Stevenson}, Theory Appl. Categ. 33, 523--536 (2018; Zbl 1398.55013), Theorem 1.5] is given (Theorem A.27). \end{itemize}