Phantom maps and chromatic phantom maps

In the first part, we determine conditions on spectra X and Y under which either every map from X to Y is phantom, or no nonzero maps are. We also address the question of whether such all or nothing behaviour is preserved when X is replaced with V smash X for V finite. In the second part, we introduce chromatic phantom maps. A map is n-phantom if it is null when restricted to finite spectra of type at least n. We define divisibility and finite type conditions which are suitable for studying n-phantom maps. We show that the duality functor W_{n-1} defined by Mahowald and Rezk is the analog of Brown-Comenetz duality for chromatic phantom maps, and give conditions under which the natural map Y --> W_{n-1}^2 Y is an isomorphism.Comment: 18 page

Higher Toda brackets and the Adams spectral sequence in triangulated categories

The Adams spectral sequence is available in any triangulated category equipped with a projective or injective class. Higher Toda brackets can also be defined in a triangulated category, as observed by B. Shipley based on J. Cohen's approach for spectra. We provide a family of definitions of higher Toda brackets, show that they are equivalent to Shipley's, and show that they are self-dual. Our main result is that the Adams differential $d_r$ in any Adams spectral sequence can be expressed as an $(r+1)$-fold Toda bracket and as an $r^{\text{th}}$ order cohomology operation. We also show how the result simplifies under a sparseness assumption, discuss several examples, and give an elementary proof of a result of Heller, which implies that the three-fold Toda brackets in principle determine the higher Toda brackets.Comment: v2: Added Section 7, about an application to computing maps between modules over certain ring spectra. Minor improvements elsewhere. v3: Minor updates throughout; closely matches published versio

Ghost numbers of Group Algebras

Motivated by Freyd's famous unsolved problem in stable homotopy theory, the generating hypothesis for the stable module category of a finite group is the statement that if a map in the thick subcategory generated by the trivial representation induces the zero map in Tate cohomology, then it is stably trivial. It is known that the generating hypothesis fails for most groups. Generalizing work done for $p$-groups, we define the ghost number of a group algebra, which is a natural number that measures the degree to which the generating hypothesis fails. We describe a close relationship between ghost numbers and Auslander-Reiten triangles, with many results stated for a general projective class in a general triangulated category. We then compute ghost numbers and bounds on ghost numbers for many families of $p$-groups, including abelian $p$-groups, the quaternion group and dihedral $2$-groups, and also give a general lower bound in terms of the radical length, the first general lower bound that we are aware of. We conclude with a classification of group algebras of $p$-groups with small ghost number and examples of gaps in the possible ghost numbers of such group algebras.Comment: 28 pages; v2 improves introduction and has many other minor changes throughout. appears in Algebras and Representation Theory, 201

Quillen model structures for relative homological algebra

An important example of a model category is the category of unbounded chain complexes of R-modules, which has as its homotopy category the derived category of the ring R. This example shows that traditional homological algebra is encompassed by Quillen's homotopical algebra. The goal of this paper is to show that more general forms of homological algebra also fit into Quillen's framework. Specifically, a projective class on a complete and cocomplete abelian category A is exactly the information needed to do homological algebra in A. The main result is that, under weak hypotheses, the category of chain complexes of objects of A has a model category structure that reflects the homological algebra of the projective class in the sense that it encodes the Ext groups and more general derived functors. Examples include the "pure derived category" of a ring R, and derived categories capturing relative situations, including the projective class for Hochschild homology and cohomology. We characterize the model structures that are cofibrantly generated, and show that this fails for many interesting examples. Finally, we explain how the category of simplicial objects in a possibly non-abelian category can be equipped with a model category structure reflecting a given projective class, and give examples that include equivariant homotopy theory and bounded below derived categories.Comment: 29 pages. v4: Published in Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. v5: Minor corrections to published version appear on last pag