Spectra of units for periodic ring spectra and group completion of graded E-infinity spaces

We construct a new spectrum of units for a commutative symmetric ring spectrum that detects the difference between a periodic ring spectrum and its connective cover. It is augmented over the sphere spectrum. The homotopy cofiber of its augmentation map is a non-connected delooping of the usual spectrum of units whose bottom homotopy group detects periodicity. Our approach builds on the graded variant of E-infinity spaces introduced in joint work with Christian Schlichtkrull. We construct a group completion model structure for graded E-infinity spaces and use it to exhibit our spectrum of units functor as right adjoint on the level of homotopy categories. The resulting group completion functor is an essential tool for studying ring spectra with graded logarithmic structures.Comment: v3: 33 pages; exposition improved, accepted for publication in Algebraic and Geometric Topolog

Localization of algebras over coloured operads

We give sufficient conditions for homotopical localization functors to preserve algebras over coloured operads in monoidal model categories. Our approach encompasses a number of previous results about preservation of structures under localizations, such as loop spaces or infinite loop spaces, and provides new results of the same kind. For instance, under suitable assumptions, homotopical localizations preserve ring spectra (in the strict sense, not only up to homotopy), modules over ring spectra, and algebras over commutative ring spectra, as well as ring maps, module maps, and algebra maps. It is principally the treatment of module spectra and their maps that led us to the use of coloured operads (also called enriched multicategories) in this context.Comment: 34 page

A new proof for the decidability of D0L ultimate periodicity

We give a new proof for the decidability of the D0L ultimate periodicity problem based on the decidability of p-periodicity of morphic words adapted to the approach of Harju and Linna.Comment: In Proceedings WORDS 2011, arXiv:1108.341

The Bott cofiber sequence in deformation K-theory and simultaneous similarity in U(n)

We show that there is a homotopy cofiber sequence of spectra relating Carlsson's deformation K-theory of a group G to its "deformation representation ring," analogous to the Bott periodicity sequence relating connective K-theory to ordinary homology. We then apply this to study simultaneous similarity of unitary matrices