# HG changeset patch # User Scott Morrison # Date 1289710720 28800 # Node ID 455106e40a611e7d21f2c047c6702542afe06044 # Parent 6f0ad8c4f8e27ac70135fab014b0ec14e9ebeb09 minor, during call diff -r 6f0ad8c4f8e2 -r 455106e40a61 pnas/pnas.tex --- a/pnas/pnas.tex Sat Nov 13 20:58:23 2010 -0800 +++ b/pnas/pnas.tex Sat Nov 13 20:58:40 2010 -0800 @@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ Define product morphisms via product cell decompositions. -\nn{also do bordism category?} +\nn{also do bordism category} \subsection{The blob complex} \subsubsection{Decompositions of manifolds} @@ -515,10 +515,11 @@ We will use the term `field on $W$' to refer to a point of this functor, that is, a permissible decomposition $x$ of $W$ together with an element of $\psi_{\cC;W}(x)$. -\todo{Mention that the axioms for $n$-categories can be stated in terms of decompositions of balls?} \subsubsection{Homotopy colimits} \nn{Motivation: How can we extend an $n$-category from balls to arbitrary manifolds?} +\todo{Mention that the axioms for $n$-categories can be stated in terms of decompositions of balls?} +\nn{Explain codimension colimits here too} We can now give a straightforward but rather abstract definition of the blob complex of an $n$-manifold $W$ with coefficients in the $n$-category $\cC$ as the homotopy colimit along $\cell(W)$ @@ -551,13 +552,12 @@ The $k$-blob group $\bc_k(W; \cC)$ is generated by the $k$-blob diagrams. A $k$-blob diagram consists of \begin{itemize} -\item a permissible collection of $k$ embedded balls, -\item an ordering of the balls, and \nn{what about reordering?} +\item a permissible collection of $k$ embedded balls, and \item for each resulting piece of $W$, a field, \end{itemize} such that for any innermost blob $B$, the field on $B$ goes to zero under the gluing map from $\cC$. We call such a field a `null field on $B$'. -The differential acts on a $k$-blob diagram by summing over ways to forget one of the $k$ blobs, with signs given by the ordering. +The differential acts on a $k$-blob diagram by summing over ways to forget one of the $k$ blobs, with alternating signs. We now spell this out for some small values of $k$. For $k=0$, the $0$-blob group is simply fields on $W$. For $k=1$, a generator consists of a field on $W$ and a ball, such that the restriction of the field to that ball is a null field. The differential simply forgets the ball. Thus we see that $H_0$ of the blob complex is the quotient of fields by fields which are null on some ball.