Higher homotopy operations and André-Quillen cohomology

Abstract: There are two main approaches to the problem of realizing a

P i

-algebra (a graded group

L a m b d a

equipped with an action of the primary homotopy operations) as the homotopy groups of a space

X

. Both involve trying to realize an algebraic free simplicial resolution

of

L a m b d a

by a simplicial space

and proceed by induction on the simplicial dimension. The first provides a sequence of Andr'{e}-Quillen cohomology classes in

H_{A Q}^{n + 2} (L a m b d a; O m e g a^{n} L a m b d a)

for

n g e q 1

as obstructions to the existence of successive Postnikov sections for

by work of Dwyer, Kan and Stover. The second gives a sequence of geometrically defined higher homotopy operations as the obstructions by earlier work of Blanc; these were identified with the obstruction theory of Dwyer, Kan and Smith in earlier work of the current authors. There are also (algebraic and geometric) obstructions for distinguishing between different realizations of

L a m b d a

. In this paper we 1) provide an explicit construction of the cocycles representing the cohomology obstructions; 2) provide a similar explicit construction of certain minimal values of the higher homotopy operations (which reduce to "long Toda brackets"), and 3) show that these two constructions correspond under an evident map.

Review text

The homotopy groups \(\pi_*X\) of any pointed space \(X\) have a natural \(\Pi\)-algebra structure. Thus it is natural to ask whether a given abstract \(\Pi\)-algebra \(\Lambda\) can be realized by the homotopy groups of a pointed space. To solve the problem we first consider an algebraic free simplicial resolution of \(\Lambda\). This resolution can be realized by a lax simplicial space \(\widehat W_\bullet\). If \(\widehat W_\bullet\) can be rectified to a strict simplicial space \(W_\bullet\), then \(\Lambda\) is realized as the homotopy groups of the geometric realization of \(W_\bullet\).NEWLINENEWLINETo solve this rectification problem two approaches are known. The first one is the algebraic approach of Dwyer, Kan and Stover, which constructs inductively two sequences of André-Quillen cohomology obstructions: one sequence for the realization of \(\Lambda\), and the other for two such realizations to be homotopy equivalent. The second one is the geometric approach, which yields obstructions to the successive rectification problem in the form of higher homotopy operations.NEWLINENEWLINEThe aim of the paper is to make explicit the close connection between these two approaches by showing that the higher homotopy operations correspond in a systematic way to the André-Quillen obstruction classes. The authors first provide an explicit construction of the cocycles representing the cohomology obstructions; then they provide a similar explicit construction of certain minimal values of the higher homotopy operations; and finally they show that these two constructions correspond under an evident map.

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