Symmetric powers in abstract homotopy categories (Q5965078)

\textit{V. Voevodsky} [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 112, 1--99 (2010; Zbl 1227.14025)] developed a motivic theory of powers. His symmetric powers depend on symmetric powers of schemes presenting motivic spaces. In this paper the authors develop a purely homotopical theory of symmetric powers in an abstract symmetric monoidal model category and prove that symmetric powers preserve weak equivalences in such a category, both in the unstable and in the stable settings. Their main results may be synthesized as follows. (1) Symmetric powers preserve the Nisnevich and étale homotopy type of motivic spaces. (2) Left derived symmetric powers exist both in the unstable motivic homotopy category of schemes over a base and in the motivic stable homotopy category and aggregate into a categorical \(\lambda\)-structure on it. (3) Symmetric powers preserve stable weak equivalences between positively cofibrant motivic symmetric spectra. (4) The left derived symmetric powers of motivic spectra coincide with the corresponding homotopy symmetric powers. The following theorem makes more precise some of the above statements. Theorem 1. Let \(B\) be a Noetherian scheme of finite Krull dimension and let \(\mathcal C_{\mathrm A^1}\) be the unstable motivic model category over \(B\). Then all symmetric powers \(\mathrm{Sym}^n\) preserve weak equivalences in \(\mathcal C_{\mathrm A^1}\) and the corresponding left derived functors \(\mathrm{LSym}^n\) yield a \(\lambda\)-structure on \(\mathbf H(B)\), the unstable motivic homotopy category of schemes over \(B\).