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Dold–Kan Correspondences via Morita Normalization

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Abstract

The classical Dold–Kan correspondence identifies simplicial modules with connective chain complexes. Using Morita theory, we construct a Dold–Kan-type correspondence for every linear category carrying a suitable action of the maximum-preserving simplicial operators. The construction functorially assigns a Morita-equivalent normalized category to every such linear category. In particular, we obtain Dold–Kan-type correspondences for all crossed simplicial groups. We prove a rank formula for the normalized hom-modules and show that a crossed simplicial group is self-dual precisely when its underlying simplicial set of automorphism groups has dimension one. Furthermore, we construct normalization-compatible self-dualities and recover the Dwyer–Kan correspondence for duplicial, paracyclic and N-cyclic modules.

Introduction

First proved independently by Dold and Kan in 1958, the Dold–Kan correspondence [5, 15] gives an equivalence between simplicial kk-modules and connective chain complexes:

Fun⁡(Δop,kMod⁡)≃Ch⁡≥0(kMod⁡).\operatorname{Fun}(\Delta^{\mathrm{op}}, k\operatorname{Mod}) \simeq\operatorname{Ch}_{\geq0}(k\operatorname{Mod}).

It has since inspired numerous generalizations to other indexing categories and to higher categorical settings: Pirashvili establishes a Dold–Kan-type theorem for abelian Γ\Gamma-groups [25], while Słomińska studies such correspondences from the perspective of Morita equivalences of functor categories [26]. Lack and Street construct Dold–Kan correspondences for categories which satisfy certain factorization conditions [19].

Walde develops a homotopy-coherent extension [27] of the Lack–Street framework. Related developments include the Dold–Kan correspondence for stable ∞\infty-categories by Lurie [21]. Dyckerhoff categorifies the Dold–Kan correspondence using 2-simplicial stable ∞\infty-categories [9], and Heine extends this approach to the Dwyer–Kan correspondence using 2-duplicial stable ∞\infty-categories [14].

2020 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary: 18G31; Secondary: 16E40, 16D90.

Returning to the classical setting, Lyubashenko describes the Dold–Kan correspondence using a family of idempotents in the linearized simplex category [23]. This family is related by order-reversal to the Dold–Puppe projectors [6], which are used by Getzler to give a direct proof of the Dwyer–Kan theorem for paracyclic modules [13]. In this article, we combine Lyubashenko’s and Getzler’s insights to develop a functorial framework for constructing Dold–Kan-type correspondences.

Main results

Here we briefly recall the necessary definitions and then state the main results of the article. Let Δ\Delta be the simplex category. We denote by Δmax⁡,Δmin⁡⊆Δ\Delta_{\max}, \Delta_{\min} \subseteq\Delta the subcategories spanned by the maximum-preserving resp. minimum-preserving simplicial operators. These categories are isomorphic and self-dual, so one may be replaced by the other in what follows. Furthermore, we fix a (nonzero) commutative unital ring kk and refer to kMod⁡k\operatorname{Mod}-enriched categories as linear categories. Functors and natural transformations between linear categories are assumed to be kMod⁡k\operatorname{Mod}-enriched. If C\mathcal{C} is an ordinary category, then k[C]k[\mathcal{C}] denotes its linearization. Given a small linear category A\mathcal{A}, an A\mathcal{A}-ring is a linear category C\mathcal{C} equipped with a functor A→C\mathcal{A} \to\mathcal{C} which is bijective on objects. A\mathcal{A}-rings form a full subcategory Ring⁡A\operatorname{Ring}_{\mathcal{A}} of the coslice category A↓kCat⁡\mathcal{A} \downarrow k\operatorname{Cat}.

For each k[Δmax⁡]k[\Delta_{\max}]-ring C\mathcal{C} we construct a linear category N(C)N(\mathcal{C}). This gives rise to a functor N ⁣:Ring⁡k[Δmax⁡]→Ring⁡N(Δmax⁡)N \colon\operatorname{Ring}_{k[\Delta_{\max}]} \to\operatorname{Ring}_{N(\Delta_{\max})} which has the following properties.

Theorem 4.11 (Abstract Dold–Kan correspondence).

(1) The categories C\mathcal{C} and N(C)N(\mathcal{C}) are Morita equivalent. In particular, the functor categories Fun⁡k(Cop⁡,A)\operatorname{Fun}_{k}(\mathcal{C}^{\operatorname{op}},\mathcal{A}) and Fun⁡k(N(C)op⁡,A)\operatorname{Fun}_{k}(N(\mathcal{C})^{\operatorname{op}},\mathcal{A}) are equivalent for every linear, additive and idempotent complete category A\mathcal{A}.

(2) The functor N ⁣:Ring⁡k[Δmax⁡]→Ring⁡N(k[Δmax⁡])N \colon\operatorname{Ring}_{k[\Delta_{\max}]} \to\operatorname{Ring}_{N(k[\Delta_{\max}])} is an equivalence.

As an application, we recover the Dwyer–Kan correspondences for duplicial, paracyclic and NN-cyclic modules by computing their normalized indexing categories in § 6.

More generally, Theorem 4.11 yields a Dold–Kan-type correspondence for every crossed simplicial group ΔG\Delta G. The hom-modules of N(ΔG)≔N(k[ΔG])N(\Delta G) \coloneqq N(k[\Delta G]) encode information about the underlying simplicial set of automorphism groups

Δop⁡⟶(ΔG)op⁡→ΔG(−,0)Set⁡\Delta^{\operatorname{op}} \longrightarrow(\Delta G)^{\operatorname{op}} \xrightarrow{\Delta G(-,0)} \operatorname{Set}

which we denote by GG. In Theorem 5.10 we prove a rank formula for the hom-modules based on the nondegenerate simplices of GG. We then characterize the crossed simplicial groups ΔG\Delta G whose normalization is self-dual.

Theorem 5.20. The following are equivalent for a crossed simplicial group ΔG\Delta G.

(1) There exists an equivalence (ΔG)op⁡≃ΔG(\Delta G)^{\operatorname{op}} \simeq\Delta G.

(2) There exists a linear equivalence N(ΔG)op⁡≃N(ΔG)N(\Delta G)^{\operatorname{op}} \simeq N(\Delta G).

(3) The simplicial dimension of GG is one.

Moreover, every equivalence (ΔG)op⁡≃ΔG(\Delta G)^{\operatorname{op}} \simeq\Delta G and N(ΔG)op⁡≃N(ΔG)N(\Delta G)^{\operatorname{op}} \simeq N(\Delta G) is necessarily an isomorphism. This is shown in Lemma 5.15 and Theorem 5.18.

The proof of Theorem 5.20 makes use of the following constructions we develop in § 7.

  • We construct normalization-compatible self-dualities of the paracyclic and paradih edral categories using order adjoints on the integers.

  • Using a quotient presentation, we extend this construction to all crossed simplicial groups of simplicial dimension one.

Acknowledgements. The author would like to thank Ulrich Krähmer for many useful discussions and valuable comments on the initial draft of this article, Ivan Bartulović for encouraging him to pursue the topic and Tony Zorman for enlightening discussions on promonads.

Preliminaries

Simplicial constructions

Notation 2.1. For every natural number n∈Nn \in\mathbb{N}, we define the set [n]≔{0,1,…,n}[n] \coloneqq\{0,1,\ldots,n\} and equip it with its natural order.

Definition 2.2. We define a category Δ\Delta with the following data:

  • The objects are the natural numbers n∈Nn \in\mathbb{N}.

  • A morphism f∈Δ(m,n)f \in\Delta(m,n) is a weakly increasing map f ⁣:[m]⟶[n]f\colon[m] \longrightarrow[n].

The following morphisms of Δ\Delta will be frequently used.

  • δin∈Δ(n−1,n)\delta_i^n \in\Delta(n-1,n) is the unique injective morphism that misses i∈[n]i \in[n].

  • σjn∈Δ(n,n−1)\sigma_j^n \in\Delta(n,n-1) is the unique surjective morphism that hits j∈[n−1]j \in[n-1] twice.

We will refer to the δin\delta_i^n as cofaces and to the σjn\sigma_j^n as codegeneracies.

Definition 2.3. We denote by Rev⁡ ⁣:Δ→Δ\operatorname{Rev}\colon\Delta\to\Delta the order reversal automorphism which is the unique non-trivial auto-equivalence of Δ\Delta. It is the identity on objects and maps f∈Δ(m,n)f \in\Delta(m,n) by Rev⁡(f)(i)=n−f(m−i)\operatorname{Rev}(f)(i)=n-f(m-i) for all i∈[m]i \in[m].

Remark 2.4. The automorphism Rev⁡\operatorname{Rev} is involutive and satisfies

Rev⁡(δin)=δn−inandRev⁡(σjn)=σn−1−jn.\operatorname{Rev}(\delta_i^n)=\delta_{n-i}^n \qquad\text{and}\qquad\operatorname{Rev}(\sigma_j^n)=\sigma_{n-1-j}^n.

Definition 2.5. A simplicial object in a category C\mathcal{C} is a functor X ⁣:Δop→CX\colon\Delta^{\mathrm{op}}\to\mathcal{C}.

Notation 2.6. Given a simplicial object X ⁣:Δop→CX\colon\Delta^{\mathrm{op}}\to\mathcal{C}, we write Xn≔X(n)X_n\coloneqq X(n). Furthermore, we introduce the notation din≔X(δin) ⁣:Xn→Xn−1d_i^n\coloneqq X(\delta_i^n)\colon X_n\to X_{n-1} and sjn≔X(σjn) ⁣:Xn−1→Xns_j^n\coloneqq X(\sigma_j^n)\colon X_{n-1}\to X_n.

Notation 2.7. The upper indices of δin\delta_i^n and σjn\sigma_j^n may be omitted. The same convention applies to their image under functors.

Remark 2.8. The following cosimplicial relations in Δ\Delta will be frequently used:

δi∘δj=δj+1∘δi,i≤j,σj∘σi=σi∘σj+1,i≤j,σj∘δi=δi∘σj−1,i<j,=id⁡,i=j, i=j+1,=δi−1∘σj,i>j+1.(1)\begin{aligned} \delta_i\circ\delta_j&=\delta_{j+1}\circ\delta_i, && i\leq j,\\ \sigma_j\circ\sigma_i&=\sigma_i\circ\sigma_{j+1}, && i\leq j,\\ \sigma_j\circ\delta_i&=\delta_i\circ\sigma_{j-1}, && i<j,\\ &=\operatorname{id}, && i=j,\ i=j+1,\\ &=\delta_{i-1}\circ\sigma_j, && i>j+1. \tag*{(1)} \end{aligned}

We note that the ej≔δj∘σj∈Δ(n,n)e_j\coloneqq\delta_j\circ\sigma_j\in\Delta(n,n) are idempotent. They satisfy

σi∘ej={ej−1∘σi,i<j−1,σi+1,i=j−1andej∘δi={δi∘ej,j<i−1,δi−1,j=i−1.\sigma_i\circ e_j= \begin{cases} e_{j-1}\circ\sigma_i, & i<j-1,\\ \sigma_{i+1}, & i=j-1 \end{cases} \qquad\text{and}\qquad e_j\circ\delta_i= \begin{cases} \delta_i\circ e_j, & j<i-1,\\ \delta_{i-1}, & j=i-1. \end{cases}

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