Rational homotopy via Sullivan models and enriched Lie algebras (Q6192643)

Summary: Rational homotopy theory originated in the late 1960s and the early 1970s with the simultaneous but distinct approaches of Quillen (1969), Sullivan (1977) and Bousfield-Kan (1972). Each approach associated to a path connected space \(X\) an ``algebraic object'' \(A\) which is then used to construct a \textit{rational completion} of \(X\), \(X \to X_{\mathbb{Q}}\). These constructions are homotopy equivalent for simply connected CW complexes of finite type, in which case \(H_{*} (X_{\mathbb{Q}}) \cong H_{*} \otimes \mathbb{Q}\) and \(\pi_{*} (X_{\mathbb{Q}}) \cong \pi_{*} (X) \otimes \mathbb{Q}\). Otherwise, they may be different; in fact, Quillen's construction is only available for simply connected spaces. In this review, discussion is limited to Sullivan's completions, and the notation \(X \to X_{\mathbb{Q}}\) is reserved for these. We briefly review the construction, and follow that with a review of developments and examples over the subsequent decades, but often without the proofs. Since the explicit form of Sullivan's completion has lent itself to a wide variety of applications in a range of fields, this survey will necessarily be modest in scope.