Coherence for invertible objects and multigraded homotopy rings (Q2441268)

The stable homotopy ring \(\pi_\ast(S)\), which is a \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded and graded commutative ring is a classical object of study in algebraic topology. For any topological space (or spectrum) \(X\) the stable homotopy groups \(\pi_\ast(X)\) give a \(\pi_\ast(S)\)-bimodule. The aim for the present paper is to generalize this basic setup to more sophisticated homotopy theories, where the homotopy rings and modules have a more elaborated grading. Standard examples are the categories of \(G\)-equivariant spectra and the category of motivic spectra. Let \((\mathcal{C},\otimes)\) be a symmetric monoidal category with the unit \(S\). Given a collection of invertible objects \(X_1,\dots,X_n\) in \(\mathcal{C}\) and \(a\in\mathbb{Z}^n\), the author considers \(X^a=X_1^{a_1}\otimes\cdots\otimes X_n^{a_n}\) to define the \(\mathbb{Z}^n\)-graded abelian group \(\pi_\ast(S)\) given by \(\pi_a(S)=\mathcal{C}(X^a,S)\) and \(\pi_\ast(W)\) defined by \(\pi_a(W)=\mathcal{C}(X^a,W)\) for a fixed object \(W\) in \(\mathcal{C}\). Then, one must take care whether \(\pi_\ast(S)\) is associative and \(\pi_\ast(W)\) is a \(\pi_\ast(S)\)-bimodule. These issues are approached by proving a general coherence result spread across Theorems 1.6, 1.10, 1.13 and 1.14. Basic facts about \(\mathbb{Z}^n\)-graded homotopy rings are deduced as consequences. More general grading schemata are studied as well. In particular, determined by a homomorphism \(h : A\to \text{Pic}(\mathcal{C})\) from an abelian group \(A\) to the Picard group \(\text{Pic}(\mathcal{C})\).