Double groupoids and homotopy 2-types (Q695317)

Double groupoids arise in various parts of mathematics. Here they are considered from the point of view of homotopy theory. Any double category \(\mathcal{C}\), leads to its double nerve \({\mathbf N}^2\mathcal{C}\), which is a bisimplicial set. Applying the diagonal functor, \(\Delta\), gives a simplicial set \(\Delta {\mathbf N}^2\mathcal{C}\), and thus a topological space \(|\Delta {\mathbf N}^2\mathcal{C}|\), which here is denoted simply \(|\mathcal{C}|\). This paper aims to study the homotopy type of such a \(|\mathcal{G}|\), for a double groupoid, \(\mathcal{G}\), relating it directly to the algebraic structure of \(\mathcal{G}\). The authors introduce a very natural \textit{filling condition}: given a vertical arrow, \(u\), and a horizontal arrow, \(g\), such that the horizontal source, \(s^h(g)\), of \(g\) is the vertical target, \(t^v(u)\), of \(u\), there is a square/2-cell, \(\alpha\), with \(u=s^h(\alpha)\) and \(g = t^v(\alpha)\). If \( \mathcal{G}\) is a double groupoid with filling condition, then, not only can one define connected components of \(\mathcal{G}\), but for each object \(a\in \mathcal{G}\), the authors give natural definitions of groups, \(\pi_i(\mathcal{G},a)\), \(i>0\), trivial for \(i>2\), and defined purely in terms of the algebraic structure of \(\mathcal{G}\), such that \(\pi_i(\mathcal{G},a) \cong \pi_i(|\mathcal{G}|,| a|)\), the usual topologically defined homotopy groups of the realisation of the double nerve of \(\mathcal{G}\). They prove that a double category, \(\mathcal{C}\), is a double groupoid with filling condition if, and only if, \(\Delta{\mathbf N}^2\mathcal{C}\) is a Kan complex, thus extending the simple classical result that the nerve of a category is a Kan complex if, and only if, the category is a groupoid. For any space, \(X\), they construct a homotopy double groupoid, \(\boldsymbol{\Pi}X\), and show that with the \(|\quad|\) functor, this gives an equivalence of categories between a natural homotopy category of such double groupoids with filling condition, and the homotopy category of homotopy 2-types.