2-track algebras and the Adams spectral sequence (Q504530)

The Adams spectral sequence is an important tool for making homotopy calculations based on homological data. This paper is part of a larger program of Baues and coauthors that aims at a description of differentials in the Adams spectral sequence in terms of higher order operations. \textit{H.-J. Baues} and \textit{M. Jibladze} [Topology 45, No. 2, 295--324 (2006; Zbl 1095.18003)] showed that the \(E_3\)-term of the Adams spectral sequence can be described in terms of certain secondary \(\text{Ext}\)-groups. More recently, \textit{H.-J. Baues} and \textit{D. Blanc} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 219, No. 2, 199--239 (2015; Zbl 1303.55007)] showed how the information needed to determine the \(d_{n+1}\)-differential of the Adams spectral sequence can be extracted from a suitable truncation of an ``Eilenberg-Mac Lane mapping theory''. In the paper under review, the authors specialize the latter result to the case \(n=2\) and express the \(d_3\)-differential of the Adams spectral sequence in terms of an ``algebra of left cubical \(2\)-balls''. It is argued that this new approach is better suited for computations.