The Combinatorics of Iterated Loop Spaces

It is well known since Stasheff's work that 1-fold loop spaces can be described in terms of the existence of higher homotopies for associativity (coherence conditions) or equivalently as algebras of contractible non-symmetric operads. The combinatorics of these higher homotopies is well understood and is extremely useful. For $n \ge 2$ the theory of symmetric operads encapsulated the corresponding higher homotopies, yet hid the combinatorics and it has remain a mystery for almost 40 years. However, the recent developments in many fields ranging from algebraic topology and algebraic geometry to mathematical physics and category theory show that this combinatorics in higher dimensions will be even more important than the one dimensional case. In this paper we are going to show that there exists a conceptual way to make these combinatorics explicit using the so called higher nonsymmetric $n$-operads.Comment: 23 page

Centers and homotopy centers in enriched monoidal categories

We consider a theory of centers and homotopy centers of monoids in monoidal categories which themselves are enriched in duoidal categories. Duoidal categories (introduced by Aguillar and Mahajan under the name 2-monoidal categories) are categories with two monoidal structures which are related by some, not necessary invertible, coherence morphisms. Centers of monoids in this sense include many examples which are not `classical.' In particular, the 2-category of categories is an example of a center in our sense. Examples of homotopy center (analogue of the classical Hochschild complex) include the Gray-category Gray of 2-categories, 2-functors and pseudonatural transformations and Tamarkin's homotopy 2-category of dg-categories, dg-functors and coherent dg-transformations.Comment: 52 page

Regular patterns, substitudes, Feynman categories and operads

We show that the regular patterns of Getzler (2009) form a 2-category biequivalent to the 2-category of substitudes of Day and Street (2003), and that the Feynman categories of Kaufmann and Ward (2013) form a 2-category biequivalent to the 2-category of coloured operads (with invertible 2-cells). These biequivalences induce equivalences between the corresponding categories of algebras. There are three main ingredients in establishing these biequivalences. The first is a strictification theorem (exploiting Power's General Coherence Result) which allows to reduce to the case where the structure maps are identity-on-objects functors and strict monoidal. Second, we subsume the Getzler and Kaufmann-Ward hereditary axioms into the notion of Guitart exactness, a general condition ensuring compatibility between certain left Kan extensions and a given monad, in this case the free-symmetric-monoidal-category monad. Finally we set up a biadjunction between substitudes and what we call pinned symmetric monoidal categories, from which the results follow as a consequence of the fact that the hereditary map is precisely the counit of this biadjunction

Symmetrisation of nn-operads and compactification of real configuration spaces

It is well known that the forgetful functor from symmetric operads to nonsymmetric operads has a left adjoint $Sym_1$ given by product with the symmetric group operad. It is also well known that this functor does not affect the category of algebras of the operad. From the point of view of the author's theory of higher operads, the nonsymmmetric operads are 1-operads and $Sym_1$ is the first term of the infinite series of left adjoint functors $Sym_n,$ called symmetrisation functors, from $n$-operads to symmetric operads with the property that the category of one object, one arrow, . . ., one $(n-1)$-arrow algebras of an $n$-operad $A$ is isomorphic to the category of algebras of $Sym_n(A)$. In this paper we consider some geometrical and homotopical aspects of the symmetrisation of $n$-operads. We construct an $n$-operadic analogue of Fulton-Macpherson operad and show that its symmetrisation is exactly the operad of Fulton and Macpherson. This implies that a space $X$ with an action of a ontractible $n$-operad has a natural structure of an algebra over an operad weakly equivalent to the little $n$-disks operad. A similar result holds for chain operads. These results generalise the classical Eckman-Hilton argument to arbitrary dimension. Finally, we apply the techniques to the Swiss Cheese type operads introduced by Voronov and get analogous results in this case.Comment: 48 page

Locally constant n-operads as higher braided operads

We introduce a category of locally constant $n$-operads which can be considered as the category of higher braided operads. For $n=1,2,\infty$ the homotopy category of locally constant $n$-operads is equivalent to the homotopy category of classical nonsymmetric, braided and symmetric operads correspondingly.Comment: to appear in "Noncommutative Geometry

Left Bousfield localization and Eilenberg–Moore categories

We prove the equivalence of several hypotheses that have appeared recently in the literature for studying left Bousfield localization and algebras over a monad. We find conditions so that there is a model structure for local algebras, so that localization preserves algebras, and so that localization lifts to the level of algebras. We include examples coming from the theory of colored operads, and applications to spaces, spectra, and chain complexes