Let ${k}$ be a field of characteristic zero. In the previous post, we introduced the category (i.e., ${\infty}$-category) ${\mathrm{Moduli}_k}$ of formal moduli problems over ${k}$. A formal moduli problem over ${k}$ is a moduli problem, taking values in spaces, that can be evaluated on the class of “derived” artinian ${k}$-algebras with residue field ${k}$: this was the category ${\mathrm{CAlg}_{sm}}$ introduced in the previous post.

In other words, a formal moduli problem was a functor

$\displaystyle F: \mathrm{CAlg}_{sm} \rightarrow \mathcal{S} \ (= \text{spaces}),$

which was required to send ${k}$ itself to a point, and satisfy a certain cohesiveness condition: ${F}$ respects certain pullbacks in ${\mathrm{CAlg}_{sm}}$ (which corresponded geometrically to pushouts of schemes).

The main goal of the series of posts was to sketch a proof of (and define everything in) the following result:

Theorem 7 (Lurie; Pridham) There is an equivalence of categories between ${\mathrm{Moduli}_k}$ and the ${\infty}$-category ${\mathrm{dgLie}}$ of DGLAs over ${k}$.

4. Overview

Here’s a rough sketch of the idea. Given a formal moduli problem ${F}$, we should think of ${F}$ as something like a small space, concentrated at a point but with lots of “infinitesimal” thickening. (Something like a ${\mathrm{Spf}}$.) Moreover, ${F}$ has a canonical basepoint corresponding to the “trivial deformation.” That is, we can think of ${F}$ as taking values in pointed spaces rather than spaces.

It follows that we can form the loop space ${\Omega F = \ast \times_F \ast}$ of ${F}$, which is a new formal moduli problem. However, ${\Omega F}$ has more structure: it’s a group object in the category of formal moduli problems — that is, it’s some sort of derived formal Lie group. Moreover, knowledge of the original ${F}$ is equivalent to knowledge of ${\Omega F}$ together with its group structure: we can recover ${F}$ as ${B \Omega F}$ (modulo connectivity issues that end up not being a problem). This relation between ordinary objects and group objects (via ${B, \Omega}$) is something very specific to the derived or homotopy world, and it’s what leads to phenomena such as Koszul duality. (more…)

Let ${k}$ be a field. The commutative cochain problem over ${k}$ is to assign (contravariantly) functorially, to every simplicial set ${K_\bullet}$, a commutative (in the graded sense) ${k}$-algebra ${A(K_\bullet)}$, which is naturally weakly equivalent to the algebra ${C^*(K_\bullet, k)}$ of singular cochains (with ${k}$-coefficients). We also require that ${A(K_\bullet) \rightarrow A(L_\bullet)}$ is a surjection whenever ${L_\bullet \subset K_\bullet}$. Recall that ${C^*(K_\bullet, k)}$ is an associative algebra, but it is not commutative; the commutativity only appears after one takes cohomology. The commutative cochain problem attempts to find an improvement to ${C^*(K_\bullet, k)}$.

If ${k}$ has finite characteristic, this problem cannot be solved, owing to the existence of nontrivial cohomology operations. (The answers at this MathOverflow question are relevant here.) However, there is a solution for ${k = \mathbb{Q}}$, given by the polynomial de Rham theory. In this post, I will explain this. (more…)