Integral chains and Bousfield-Kan completion (Q2326301)

Let \(\mathrm{SS}_*\) be the category of pointed simplicial sets and \(\mathrm{SAb}\) the category of simplicial abelian groups. For a pointed simplicial set \(X\), let \(\tilde {\mathbb Z}X={\mathbb Z}[X]/{\mathbb Z}[*]\) be the pointed free simplicial abelian group generated by \(X\). The functor \(\tilde {\mathbb Z}\colon \mathrm{SS}_*\to \mathrm{SAb}\) represents singular homology in the sense that there is a natural isomorphism \(\pi_*(\tilde{\mathbb Z}X)\cong \widetilde{\mathrm{H}}_*(X)\). This functor has a right adjoint, the forgetful functor \(U\colon \mathrm{SAb}\to \mathrm{SS}_*\). The authors study the homotopical properties of the adjunction \(\tilde {\mathbb Z} \dashv U\). More precisely, they study the induced homotopical adjunction between \(\mathrm{SS}_*\) and the category of coalgebras over the comonad \(\tilde{\mathbb Z} U\). Their main result says that if one restricts to one-connected objects, one obtains an equivalence of homotopy categories of simply-connected pointed spaces and 1-connected coalgebras over \(\tilde{\mathbb Z} U\).