Hammocks and fractions in relative \(\infty \)-categories (Q721976)

Dwyer and Kan considered categories enriched over simplicial sets as a way to present an \((\infty,1)\)-category, and defined a suitable notion of equivalence between such structures. A major source of examples of categories enriched over simplicial sets is given by the hammock localizations of relative categories. Joyal and Lurie showed, by means of a Quillen equivalence, that the homotopy theory of categories enriched over simplicial sets and Dwyer-Kan equivalences (presented by the Bergner model structure) is equivalent to that of quasi-categories and Joyal equivalences (presented by the Joyal model structure). In this paper, the author enhances the classical picture by considering a further simplicial dimension. From the observation that categories enriched over simplicial sets are precisely simplicial objects in Segal sets for which the simplicial set of objects is constant, he considers instead simplicial objects in Segal spaces for which the simplicial set of objects is constant, and calls such objects ``simplicial \(\infty\)-categories''. He introduces a meaningful notion of ``Dwyer-Kan equivalence'' between simplicial \(\infty\)-categories: these are maps that are weakly surjective on the sets of connected components and that induce a geometric equivalence on mapping simplicial spaces. He then shows that the homotopy theory of simplicial \(\infty\)-categories and Dwyer-Kan equivalences is equivalent to that of Rezk's complete Segal spaces. In particular, simplicial \(\infty\)-categories are themselves a model of \((\infty,1)\)-categories. In the second part of the paper, he constructs the ``hammock localization'' of relative \(\infty\)-categories, extending the classical hammock localization of ordinary relative categories. This is achieved by first defining the simplicial space of hammocks between any two objects of a relative \(\infty\)-category, and then by identifying a simplicial \(\infty\)-category whose mapping simplicial spaces are equivalent to the previously defined hammocks. While the construction applies to any relative \(\infty\)-category, like for the classical case the simplicial spaces of hammocks are generally quite large and hard to describe. Generalizing Dwyer-Kan's ideas, the author identifies a class of relative \(\infty\)-categories, those that admit a ``homotopical three-arrow calculus'', for which the geometric realization of the hammocks admits a smaller model: the groupoid completion of the \(\infty\)-category of three-arrow-zigzags in the relative category. Finally, some of the results on relative \(\infty\)-categories proved in this paper allow the author to show properties of the ``Rezk nerve'' of relative \(\infty\)-categories, a construction that he introduced in previous work. More precisely, he shows that the Rezk nerve of any relative \(\infty\)-category that admits a homotopical three-arrow calculus is always a Segal space, which is moreover complete whenever the relative \(\infty\)-category is saturated and satisfies the two-out-of-three property.