Homotopy homomorphisms and the classifying space functor (Q897099)

The author shows that after appropriate localisations the classifying space functor from topological monoids to based topological spaces is left adjoint to the Moore loop space functor. The localisation of based topological spaces is with respect to not necessarily based homotopy equivalences of based maps; it is known that this localisation exists. The localisation of topological monoids is with respect to homotopy equivalences. It is shown to exist by constructing it as the category of topological monoids and homotopy classes of homotopy homomorphisms, with a variant of the usual notion of homotopy homomorphism. The adjunction lifts to diagrams. As applications there are a short proof for the James construction, an algebraic version of the group completion theorem, and a proof that the classifying space functor preserves homotopy colimits up to natural homotopy equivalences.