On the homotopy theory of Grothendieck -groupoids

Groupoids, semigroupoids, semigroups, groups (viewed as categories) (18B40) Classification of homotopy type (55P15) Homotopy groups, general; sets of homotopy classes (55Q05)

Abstract: We present a slight variation on a notion of weak infty-groupoid introduced by Grothendieck in Pursuing Stacks and we study the homotopy theory of these infty-groupoids. We prove that the obvious definition for homotopy groups of Grothendieck infty-groupoids does not depend on any choice. This allows us to give equivalent characterizations of weak equivalences of Grothendieck infty-groupoids, generalizing a well-known result for strict infty-groupoids. On the other hand, given a model category M in which every object is fibrant, we construct, following Grothendieck, a fundamental infty-groupoid functor Pi_infty from M to the category of Grothendieck infty-groupoids. We show that if X is an object of M, then the homotopy groups of Pi_infty(X) and of X are canonically isomorphic. We deduce that the functor Pi_infty respects weak equivalences.

Review text

In his well-known manuscript, ``Pursuing stacks, \textit{A. Grothendieck} gave what was long assumed to be a sketch of a definition for \(\infty\)-groupoids. In some recent papers, Maltsiniotis showed that in fact this definition contained enough information to be considered a rigorous definition. In the paper under review, the author uses a variation of this definition to gain insight into the Homotopy Hypothesis, which asserts that \(\infty\)-groupoids should be equivalent to homotopy types of spaces. The definition given here has the advantage that it allows for a canonical inclusion of strict \(\infty\)-groupoids, to be developed further by the author. The main results of the paper are as follows. The author develops the notions of homotopy groups and weak equivalences of \(\infty\)-groupoids; in fact he shows that four different plausible definitions of weak equivalence are equivalent to one another. He then goes on to define the fundamental \(\infty\)-groupoid of an object of a model category in which all objects are fibrant. In the special case of the usual model structure on topological spaces, this definition allows for a new formulation of the Homotopy Hypothesis which will hopefully lead to progress toward its resolution.

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