Infinite symmetric products of rational algebras and spaces (Q2122138)

The construction of infinite symmetric products appears in algebra and topology. In algebra, given a connected algebra \(A\), its \(n\)-fold symmetric product \(SP^{n}\left( A\right) \) is the invariant sub-algebra \(\left( A^{\otimes n}\right) ^{\Sigma_{n}\text{ }}\)of \(A^{\otimes n}\) consisting of elements invariant under the action of the \(n\)th symmetric group \(\Sigma_{n}\) by permuting the factors with the usual Koszul signs. The infinite symmetric product \(SP\left( A\right) \) is defined to be the inverse limit of \(SP^{n}\left( A\right) ,\)i.e., \(SP\left( A\right) =\) \(\underset{\leftarrow n}{\lim}\) \(SP^{n}\left( A\right) .\) Let now \(X\) be a connected CW-complex; one can form the \(n\)-fold symmetric product \(SP^{n}\left( X\right) \) by quotienting the \(n\)-fold product \(X^{\times n}\) by the natural action of the symmetric group \(\Sigma_{n}\) on \(n\) elements. The space \(SP^{n}\left( X\right) \) naturally embeds into \(SP^{n+1}\left( X\right) \), and in the limit of this directed system over \(n\) one obtains the infinite symmetric product \(SP(X)\). In this paper, the authors give a general structural theorem for the infinite symmetric products of a connected graded commutative algebra over \(\mathbb{Q}\). In particular, the authors show that \[ SP\left( A\right) \cong \Lambda\left( A_{+}\right) \] where \(\Lambda\left( A_{+}\right) \) is the free graded commutative algebra on the positive degree of \(A\). They also determine the Sullivan minimal model of the infinite symmetric product of a connected pointed CW-complex (see Theorem 13). As a consequence of this result, the authors obtain a quick proof of the Dold-Thom theorem in rational homotopy theory [\textit{A. Dold} and \textit{R. Thom}, Ann. Math. (2) 67, 239--281 (1958; Zbl 0091.37102)]. In particular, they prove \[ \pi_{\ast}\left( SP\left( X\right) \right) \otimes\mathbb{Q}\cong \widetilde{H_{\ast}}\left( X;\mathbb{Q}\right). \]