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In this paper we introduce a new formalism for $K$-theory, called squares $K$-theory. This formalism allows us to simultaneously generalize the usual three-term relation $[B] = [A] + [C]$ for an exact sequence $A \hookrightarrow B \twoheadrightarrow C$ or for a subtractive sequence $A\hookrightarrow B \leftarrow C$, by defining $K_0$ of exact and subtractive categories to satisfy a four-term relation $[A]+[D]= [C] + [B]$ for a ``good'' square diagram with these corners. Examples that rely on this formalism are $K$-theory of smooth manifolds of a fixed dimension and $K$-theory of (smooth and) complete varieties. Another application we give of this theory is the construction of a derived motivic measure taking value in the $K$-theory of homotopy sheaves., Comment: 28 pages

We construct an $(\infty,1)$-functor that takes each smooth $G$-manifold with corners $M$ to the space of equivariant smooth $h$-cobordisms ${\mathcal H}_{\mathrm{Diff}}(M)$. We also give a stable analogue ${\mathcal H}^{\mathcal U}_{\mathrm{Diff}}(M)$ where the manifolds are stabilized with respect to representation discs. The functor structure is subtle to construct, and relies on several new ideas. In the non-equivariant case $G=e$, our $(\infty,1)$-functor agrees with previous constructions of the smooth $h$-cobordism space as a functor to the homotopy category., Comment: Small expository changes from the first version. 65 pages. Comments welcome!

Cut-and-paste $K$-theory has recently emerged as an important variant of higher algebraic $K$-theory. However, many of the powerful tools used to study classical higher algebraic $K$-theory do not yet have analogues in the cut-and-paste setting. In particular, there does not yet exist a sensible notion of the Dennis trace for cut-and-paste $K$-theory. In this paper we address the particular case of the $K$-theory of polyhedra, also called scissors congruence $K$-theory. We introduce an explicit, computable trace map from the higher scissors congruence groups to group homology, and use this trace to prove the existence of some nonzero classes in the higher scissors congruence groups. We also show that the $K$-theory of polyhedra is a homotopy orbit spectrum. This fits into Thomason's general framework of $K$-theory commuting with homotopy colimits, but we give a self-contained proof. We then use this result to re-interpret the trace map as a partial inverse to the map that commutes homotopy orbits with algebraic $K$-theory., Comment: 32 pages, 3 figures. Revision of the paper previously entitled "A Farrell--Jones isomorphism for $K$-theory of polyhedra."

We prove that the group of strict contactomorphisms of the standard tight contact structure on the three-sphere deformation retracts to its unitary subgroup U(2)., Comment: Expanded both content and references. Separated into two parts. Part 1 is a more detailed proof of our new result of the deformation retraction of the group of strict contactomorphisms on the three-sphere. Part 2 gives a self-contained treatment and proofs of existing results scattered among several papers in the literature on the Fr\'echet bundle structure of the group of strict contactomorphisms

We prove a multiplicative version of the equivariant Barratt-Priddy-Quillen theorem, starting from the additive version proven in arXiv:1207.3459. The proof uses a multiplicative elaboration of an additive equivariant infinite loop space machine that manufactures orthogonal $G$-spectra from symmetric monoidal $G$-categories. The new machine produces highly structured associative ring and module $G$-spectra from appropriate multiplicative input. It relies on new operadic multicategories that are of considerable independent interest and are defined in a general, not necessarily equivariant or topological, context. Most of our work is focused on constructing and comparing them. We construct a multifunctor from the multicategory of symmetric monoidal $G$-categories to the multicategory of orthogonal $G$-spectra. With this machinery in place, we prove that the equivariant BPQ theorem can be lifted to a multiplicative equivalence. That is the heart of what is needed for the presheaf reconstruction of the category of $G$-spectra in arXiv:1110.3571.

We construct a map from the suspension $G$-spectrum $\Sigma_G^\infty M$ of a smooth compact $G$-manifold to the equivariant $A$-theory spectrum $A_G(M)$, and we show that its fiber is, on fixed points, a wedge of stable $h$-cobordism spectra. This map is constructed as a map of spectral Mackey functors, which is compatible with tom Dieck style splitting formulas on fixed points. In order to synthesize different definitions of the suspension $G$-spectrum as a spectral Mackey functor, we present a new perspective on spectral Mackey functors, viewing them as multifunctors on indexing categories for "rings on many objects" and modules over such. This perspective should be of independent interest., Comment: Improved exposition, reorganized and slightly expanded arguments in chapter 4

Recent work of Jonathan Campbell and Inna Zakharevich has focused on building machinery for studying scissors congruence problems via algebraic $K$-theory, and applying these tools to studying the Grothendieck ring of varieties. In this paper we give a new application of their framework: we construct a $K$-space that recovers the classical $\mathrm{SK}$ ("schneiden und kleben," German for "cut and paste") groups for manifolds on $\pi_0$, and we construct a derived version of the Euler characteristic., Comment: Final version

We prove a claim by Williams that the coassembly map is a homotopy limit map. As an application, we show that the homotopy limit map for the coarse version of equivariant $A$-theory agrees with the coassembly map for bivariant $A$-theory that appears in the statement of the topological Riemann-Roch theorem., Comment: Accepted version. Several improvements from the referee, including a more elegant proof of Lemma 3.8

We give an operadic definition of a genuine symmetric monoidal G-category, and we prove that its classifying space is a genuine E_\infty G-space. We do this by developing some very general categorical coherence theory. We combine results of Corner and Gurski, Power, and Lack, to develop a strictification theory for pseudoalgebras over operads and monads. It specializes to strictify genuine symmetric monoidal G-categories to genuine permutative G-categories. All of our work takes place in a general internal categorical framework that has many quite different specializations. When G is a finite group, the theory here combines with previous work to generalize equivariant infinite loop space theory from strict space level input to considerably more general category level input. It takes genuine symmetric monoidal G-categories as input to an equivariant infinite loop space machine that gives genuine G-spectra as output., Comment: Final version. To appear in Quarterly Journal of Mathematics

This paper was written in 2015, and published in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. This paper announces the first issue (2015) of Enchiridion: Mathematics User's Guides, a project to produce peer-reviewed User's Guides as companions to published papers. These User's Guides are meant to explain the key insights and organizing principles in their companion papers, the metaphors and imagery used by the authors, the story of the development of the companion papers, and a colloquial summary appropriate for a non-mathematical audience. Examples of User's Guides can be found at https://mathusersguides.com/

In [MMO] (arXiv:1704.03413), we reworked and generalized equivariant infinite loop space theory, which shows how to construct $G$-spectra from $G$-spaces with suitable structure. In this paper, we construct a new variant of the equivariant Segal machine that starts from the category $\scr{F}$ of finite sets rather than from the category ${\scr{F}}_G$ of finite $G$-sets and which is equivalent to the machine studied by Shimakawa and in [MMO]. In contrast to the machine in [MMO], the new machine gives a lax symmetric monoidal functor from the symmetric monoidal category of $\scr{F}$-$G$-spaces to the symmetric monoidal category of orthogonal $G$-spectra. We relate it multiplicatively to suspension $G$-spectra and to Eilenberg-MacLane $G$-spectra via lax symmetric monoidal functors from based $G$-spaces and from abelian groups to $\scr{F}$-$G$-spaces. Even non-equivariantly, this gives an appealing new variant of the Segal machine. This new variant makes the equivariant generalization of the theory essentially formal, hence is likely to be applicable in other contexts., Comment: Title changed from "Equivariant infinite loop space II. The multiplicative Segal machine." Final version to appear in JPAA

We rework and generalize equivariant infinite loop space theory, which shows how to construct $G$-spectra from $G$-spaces with suitable structure. There is a classical version which gives classical $\Omega$-$G$-spectra for any topological group $G$, but our focus is on the construction of genuine $\Omega$-$G$-spectra when $G$ is finite. We also show what is and is not true when $G$ is a compact Lie group. We give new information about the Segal and operadic equivariant infinite loop space machines, supplying many details that are missing from the literature, and we prove by direct comparison that the two machines give equivalent output when fed equivalent input. The proof of the corresponding nonequivariant uniqueness theorem, due to May and Thomason, works for classical $G$-spectra for general $G$ but fails for genuine $G$-spectra. Even in the nonequivariant case, our comparison theorem is considerably more precise, giving an illuminating direct point-set level comparison. We have taken the opportunity to update this general area, equivariant and nonequivariant, giving many new proofs, filling in some gaps, and giving a number of corrections to results and proofs in the literature., Comment: Minor edits. Final version, to appear in Memoirs of the AMS. 121 pages

We establish a formal framework for Rognes's homotopical Galois theory and adapt it to the context of motivic spaces and spectra. We discuss examples of Galois extensions between Eilenberg-MacLane motivic spectra and between the Hermitian and algebraic K-theory spectra.

We give a new construction of the equivariant $K$-theory of group actions (cf. Barwick et al.), producing an infinite loop $G$-space for each Waldhausen category with $G$-action, for a finite group $G$. On the category $R(X)$ of retractive spaces over a $G$-space $X$, this produces an equivariant lift of Waldhausen's functor $A(X)$, and we show that the $H$-fixed points are the bivariant $A$-theory of the fibration $X_{hH}\to BH$. We then use the framework of spectral Mackey functors to produce a second equivariant refinement $A_G(X)$ whose fixed points have tom Dieck type splittings. We expect this second definition to be suitable for an equivariant generalization of the parametrized $h$-cobordism theorem., Comment: Introduction and acknowledgements have been updated with more references to earlier work. Improved Theorem 2.9 (strictification of pseudoequivariant functors). The section on coassembly has been removed and will be treated in a forthcoming paper

A group action on the input ring or category induces an action on the algebraic $K$-theory spectrum. However, a shortcoming of this naive approach to equivariant algebraic $K$-theory is, for example, that the map of spectra with $G$-action induced by a $G$-map of $G$-rings is not equivariant. We define a version of equivariant algebraic $K$-theory which encodes a group action on the input in a functorial way to produce a $genuine$ algebraic $K$-theory $G$-spectrum for a finite group $G$. The main technical work lies in studying coherent actions on the input category. A payoff of our approach is that it builds a unifying framework for equivariant topological $K$-theory, Atiyah's Real $K$-theory, and existing statements about algebraic $K$-theory spectra with $G$-action. We recover the map from the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjecture and the representational assembly map studied by Carlsson and interpret them from the perspective of equivariant stable homotopy theory., Comment: Final version to appear in Mathematische Zeitschrift. The last section about Waldhausen G-categories has been removed from this paper

Recently, the Johnson-McCarthy discrete calculus for homotopy functors was extended to include functors from an unbased simplicial model category to spectra. This paper completes the constructions needed to ensure that there exists a discrete calculus tower for functors from an unbased simplicial model category to chain complexes over a fixed commutative ring. Much of the construction of the Taylor tower for functors to spectra carries over to this context. However, one of the essential steps in the construction requires proving that a particular functor is part of a cotriple. For this, one needs to prove that certain identities involving homotopy limits hold up to isomorphism, rather than just up to weak equivalence. As the target category of chain complexes is not a simplicial model category, the arguments for functors to spectra need to be adjusted for chain complexes. In this paper, we take advantage of the fact that we can construct an explicit model for iterated fibers, and prove that the functor is a cotriple directly. We use related ideas to provide concrete infinite deloopings of the first terms in the resulting Taylor towers when evaluated at the initial object in the source category., Comment: 20 pages

It is known that infinitely many number fields and function fields of any degree $m$ have class number divisible by a given integer $n$. However, significantly less is known about the indivisibility of class numbers of such fields. While it's known that there exist infinitely many quadratic number fields with class number indivisible by a given prime, the fields are not constructed explicitly, and nothing appears to be known for higher degree extensions. In \cite{Pacelli-Rosen}, Pacelli and Rosen explicitly constructed an infinite class of function fields of any degree $m$, $3 \nmid m$, over $\F_q(T)$ with class number indivisible by 3, generalizing a result of Ichimura for quadratic extensions. Here we generalize that result, constructing, for an arbitrary prime $\ell$, and positive integer $m > 1$, infinitely many function fields of degree $m$ over the rational function field, with class number indivisible by $\ell$.