Suspension spectra and higher stabilization

Abstract

We prove that the stabilization of spaces functor---the classical construction of associating a spectrum to a pointed space by tensoring with the sphere spectrum---satisfies homotopical descent on objects and morphisms. This is the stabilization analog of the Quillen-Sullivan theory main result that the rational chains (resp. cochains) functor participates in a derived equivalence with certain coalgebra (resp. algebra) complexes, after restriction to 1-connected spaces up to rational equivalence. In more detail, we prove that the stabilization of spaces functor participates in a derived equivalence with certain coalgebra spectra (where the stabilization construction naturally lands), after restriction to 1-connected spaces up to weak equivalence. This resolves in the affirmative the infinite case, involving stabilization and suspension spectra, of a question/conjecture posed by Tyler Lawson on (iterated) suspension spaces almost ten years ago. A key ingredient of our proof, of independent interest, is a higher stabilization theorem for spaces that provides strong estimates for the uniform cartesian-ness of certain cubical diagrams associated to n-fold iterations of the spaces-level stabilization map; this is the stabilization analog of Dundas' higher Hurewicz theorem.

18 pages. Several improvements in the text. Details and diagrams added to help readers understand the cosimplicial relations. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1612.08622, arXiv:1611.04157