Stable Postnikov data of Picard 2-categories
Abstract
Picard 2-categories are symmetric monoidal 2-categories with invertible 0-, 1-, and 2-cells. The classifying space of a Picard 2-category $\mathcal{D}$ is an infinite loop space, the zeroth space of the $K$-theory spectrum $K\mathcal{D}$. This spectrum has stable homotopy groups concentrated in levels 0, 1, and 2. In this paper, we describe part of the Postnikov data of $K\mathcal{D}$ in terms of categorical structure. We use this to show that there is no strict skeletal Picard 2-category whose $K$-theory realizes the 2-truncation of the sphere spectrum. As part of the proof, we construct a categorical suspension, producing a Picard 2-category $\Sigma C$ from a Picard 1-category $C$, and show that it commutes with $K$-theory in that $K\Sigma C$ is stably equivalent to $\Sigma K C$.
- Publication:
-
arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- June 2016
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1606.07032
- Bibcode:
- 2016arXiv160607032G
- Keywords:
-
- Mathematics - Algebraic Topology;
- Mathematics - Category Theory;
- Mathematics - K-Theory and Homology;
- Primary: 55S45;
- Secondary: 18C20;
- 55P42;
- 19D23;
- 18D05
- E-Print:
- 31 pages. To appear in Algebraic and Geometric Topology