\(\mathbb A^1\)-connected components of schemes (Q2517377)

The authors settle a number of open questions in unstable motivic homotopy theory. In particular, they prove that the sheaf of \(\mathbb{A}^1\)-connected components of a smooth variety is in general not homotopy invariant, not a birational invariant, and does not (in general) coincide with the sheaf of \(\mathbb{A}^1\)-chain connected components. Additionally they give examples of smooth varieties \(X\) such that \(\text{Sing}_*(X)\) fails to be \(\mathbb{A}^1\)-local. These are all counterexamples to conjectures of Morel and Asok-Morel. In order to prove their results, the authors study carefully the sheaf \(\pi_0^{\mathbb{A}^1}(X)\). Their techniques can sometimes be used to establish positive results; to this end they prove that the conjectures of Morel and Asok-Morel hold for non-uniruled surfaces.