Local-to-global spectral sequences for the cohomology of diagrams (Q952241)

A functor \(X: {\mathcal I}\rightarrow{ho}({\mathcal T}op)\), from a small category \({\mathcal I}\) toward the homotopy category of topological spaces \({ho}({\mathcal T}op)\), assigns a space \(X(i)\in{\mathcal T}op\) to each object \(i\in{\mathcal I}\) and a map \(X(f): X(i)\rightarrow X(j)\) to each morphism \(f: i\rightarrow j\) so that we have the homotopy relation \(X(f g)\simeq X(f) X(g)\) for composite morphisms. A natural question is whether the homotopy relations \(X(f g)\simeq X(f) X(g)\) can be rectified to identities \(X(f g) = X(f) X(g)\) so that we have a lifting of the functor \(X: {\mathcal I}\rightarrow{ho}({\mathcal T}op)\) to the strict category of topological spaces \({\mathcal T}op\). In a previous paper [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 6, 763--807 (2006; Zbl 1125.18011)], the authors show that the obstructions to the realization of such homotopy diagrams \(X: {\mathcal I}\rightarrow{ho}({\mathcal T}op)\) in the strict category \({\mathcal T}op\) lie in cohomology groups associated to \(X\). This obstruction theory is defined abstractly in terms of a cohomology of diagrams toward a category of universal algebras \(\mathcal A\). To be more precise, recall that a \(\Pi\)-algebra is the structure which models the action of homotopy operations on the homotopy groups of a space. The authors consider the diagram of \(\Pi\)-algebras associated to \(X: {\mathcal I}\rightarrow{ho}({\mathcal T}op)\) and the obstructions to the realization of \(X\) lie in the cohomology of this diagram of \(\Pi\)-algebras. The authors construct a local-to-global spectral sequences which compute the cohomology of a full diagram \(X: {\mathcal I}\rightarrow\mathcal A\) from smaller pieces \(X_\alpha: {\mathcal I}_\alpha\rightarrow\mathcal A\). For this purpose, they consider orderable covers \({\mathfrak J}\) of the category \({\mathcal I}\), decompositions of \({\mathcal I}\) into subcategories \({\mathcal I}_{\alpha}\) together with appropriate ordering relations, and use the cover \({\mathfrak J}\) to decompose mapping spaces of diagrams over \({\mathcal I}\) into tower of fibrations.