Algebra/Topology seminar

Speaker: Martin Frankland (Universität Osnabrück)

Title: Eilenberg-MacLane mapping algebras and higher distributivity

Abstract: Primary cohomology operations are given by homotopy classes of maps between Eilenberg-MacLane spectra. Composition of such maps is bilinear up to homotopy, but not strictly: it is strictly linear in one variable and linear up to coherent homotopy in the other variable. In joint work with Hans-Joachim Baues, we introduce the notion of weakly bilinear mapping theory to encode this structure. I will describe the higher distributivity laws satisfied by this structure, along with some examples in mod 2 cohomology.