Stems and spectral sequences (Q600809)

In this paper the authors introduce Postnikov \(n\)-stems, where \(n\) is a nonnegative integer. A Postnikov \(n\)-stem is a sequence of spaces and fibrations \[ \ldots \to Q_2 \to Q_1 \to Q_0 \] such that \(\pi_i Q_k=0\) when \(i\) is outside the interval \(k\leq i\leq n+k\) and such that \(\pi_i Q_k \to \pi Q_{k-1}\) is an isomorphism for \(k\leq i<n+k\). There is a functor from spaces to Postnikov \(n\)-stems obtained by killing homotopy groups. A Postnikov \(n\)-stem yields a truncated spectral sequence, consisting of terms \(E^r\) for \(r\leq n+2\); if the stem comes from a space \(X\) then this is the truncation of the homotopy spectral sequence of \(X\). There are analogous results for cosimplicial \(n\)-stems. There are good algebraic models for \(n\)-stems when \(n\) is small.