A uniqueness theorem for stable homotopy theory

In this paper we study the global structure of the stable homotopy theory of spectra. We establish criteria for when the homotopy theory associated to a given stable model category agrees with the classical stable homotopy theory of spectra. One sufficient condition is that the associated homotopy category is equivalent to the stable homotopy category as a triangulated category with an action of the ring of stable homotopy groups of spheres. In other words, the classical stable homotopy theory, with all of its higher order information, is determined by the homotopy category as a triangulated category with an action of the stable homotopy groups of spheres. Another sufficient condition is the existence of a small generating object (corresponding to the sphere spectrum) for which a specific `unit map' from the infinite loop space QS^0 to the endomorphism space is a weak equivalence

Homotopy limits of model categories and more general homotopy theories

Generalizing a definition of homotopy fiber products of model categories, we give a definition of the homotopy limit of a diagram of left Quillen functors between model categories. As has been previously shown for homotopy fiber products, we prove that such a homotopy limit does in fact correspond to the usual homotopy limit, when we work in a more general model for homotopy theories in which they can be regarded as objects of a model category.Comment: 10 pages; a few minor changes made. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0811.317

Milnor Invariants for Spatial Graphs

Link homotopy has been an active area of research for knot theorists since its introduction by Milnor in the 1950s. We introduce a new equivalence relation on spatial graphs called component homotopy, which reduces to link homotopy in the classical case. Unlike previous attempts at generalizing link homotopy to spatial graphs, our new relation allows analogues of some standard link homotopy results and invariants. In particular we can define a type of Milnor group for a spatial graph under component homotopy, and this group determines whether or not the spatial graph is splittable. More surprisingly, we will also show that whether the spatial graph is splittable up to component homotopy depends only on the link homotopy class of the links contained within it. Numerical invariants of the relation will also be produced.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure