Join (simplicial sets)


In higher category theory in mathematics, the join of simplicial sets is an operation making the category of simplicial sets into a monoidal category. In particular, it takes two simplicial sets to construct another simplicial set. It is closely related to the diamond operation and used in the construction of the twisted diagonal. Under the nerve construction, it corresponds to the join of categories and under the geometric realization, it corresponds to the join of topological spaces.

Definition

For natural numbers, one has the identity:
which can be extended by colimits to a functor a functor, which together with the empty simplicial set as unit element makes the category of simplicial sets into a monoidal category. For simplicial set and, their join is the simplicial set:
A -simplex therefore either factors over or or splits into a -simplex and a -simplex with and.
One has canonical morphisms, which combine into a canonical morphism through the universal property of the coproduct. One also has a canonical morphism of terminal maps, for which the fiber of is and the fiber of is.
For a simplicial set, one further defines its left cone and right cone as:

Right adjoint

Let be a simplicial set. The functor has a right adjoint and the functor also has a right adjoint . A special case is the terminal simplicial set, since is the category of pointed simplicial sets.
Let be a category and be an object. Let be the terminal category, then there is an associated functor, which with the nerve induces a morphism. For every simplicial set, one has by additionally using the adjunction between the join of categories and slice categories:
Hence according to the Yoneda lemma, one has :

Examples

One has:

Properties

  • For simplicial sets and, there is a unique morphism into the diamond operation compatible with the maps and. It is a weak categorical equivalence, hence a weak equivalence of the Joyal model structure.
  • For a simplicial set, the functors preserve weak categorical equivalences.
  • For ∞-categories and, the simplicial set is also an ∞-category.
  • The join is associative. For simplicial sets, and, one has:
  • :
  • The join reverses under the opposite simplicial set. For simplicial sets and, one has:
  • :
  • For a morphism, one has :
  • :
  • For a morphism, its precomposition with the canonical inclusion and corresponding to under the adjunction, one has or in alternative notation:
  • Under the nerve, the join of categories becomes the join of simplicial sets. For small categories and, one has:
  • :

    Literature

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