--- a/text/blobdef.tex Mon Jul 05 07:47:23 2010 -0600
+++ b/text/blobdef.tex Wed Jul 07 08:47:50 2010 -0600
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@
behavior}
\nn{need to allow the case where $B\to X$ is not an embedding
on $\bd B$. this is because any blob diagram on $X_{cut}$ should give rise to one on $X_{gl}$
-and blobs are allowed to meet $\bd X$.}
+and blobs are allowed to meet $\bd X$.
+Also, the complement of the blobs (and regions between nested blobs) might not be manifolds.}
Now for the general case.
A $k$-blob diagram consists of
--- a/text/ncat.tex Mon Jul 05 07:47:23 2010 -0600
+++ b/text/ncat.tex Wed Jul 07 08:47:50 2010 -0600
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@
The various sets of $n$-morphisms $\cC(X; c)$, for all $n$-balls $X$ and
all $c\in \cl{\cC}(\bd X)$, have the structure of an object in some auxiliary symmetric monoidal category
(e.g.\ vector spaces, or modules over some ring, or chain complexes),
+\nn{actually, need both disj-union/sub and product/tensor-product; what's the name for this sort of cat?}
and all the structure maps of the $n$-category should be compatible with the auxiliary
category structure.
Note that this auxiliary structure is only in dimension $n$;
@@ -844,8 +845,8 @@
Note in particular that the space for $k=1$ contains a copy of $\Diff(B^n)$, namely
the embeddings of a ``little" ball with image all of the big ball $B^n$.
\nn{should we warn that the inclusion of this copy of $\Diff(B^n)$ is not a homotopy equivalence?})
-The operad $\cE\cB_n$ is homotopy equivalent to the standard framed little $n$-ball operad.
-By shrinking the little balls (precomposing them with dilations),
+The operad $\cE\cB_n$ is homotopy equivalent to the standard framed little $n$-ball operad:
+by shrinking the little balls (precomposing them with dilations),
we see that both operads are homotopic to the space of $k$ framed points
in $B^n$.
It is easy to see that $n$-fold loop spaces $\Omega^n(T)$ have
@@ -913,22 +914,23 @@
We will first define the ``cell-decomposition" poset $\cell(W)$ for any $k$-manifold $W$, for $1 \leq k \leq n$.
An $n$-category $\cC$ provides a functor from this poset to the category of sets,
-and we will define $\cC(W)$ as a suitable colimit
+and we will define $\cl{\cC}(W)$ as a suitable colimit
(or homotopy colimit in the $A_\infty$ case) of this functor.
We'll later give a more explicit description of this colimit.
In the case that the $n$-category $\cC$ is enriched (e.g. associates vector spaces or chain complexes to $n$-manifolds with boundary data),
then the resulting colimit is also enriched, that is, the set associated to $W$ splits into subsets according to boundary data, and each of these subsets has the appropriate structure (e.g. a vector space or chain complex).
-\begin{defn}
-Say that a ``permissible decomposition" of $W$ is a cell decomposition
+Define a {\it permissible decomposition} of $W$ to be a cell decomposition
\[
W = \bigcup_a X_a ,
\]
where each closed top-dimensional cell $X_a$ is an embedded $k$-ball.
+\nn{need to define this more carefully}
Given permissible decompositions $x$ and $y$, we say that $x$ is a refinement
of $y$, or write $x \le y$, if each $k$-ball of $y$ is a union of $k$-balls of $x$.
-The category $\cell(W)$ has objects the permissible decompositions of $W$,
+\begin{defn}
+The category (poset) $\cell(W)$ has objects the permissible decompositions of $W$,
and a unique morphism from $x$ to $y$ if and only if $x$ is a refinement of $y$.
See Figure \ref{partofJfig} for an example.
\end{defn}
@@ -941,15 +943,12 @@
\label{partofJfig}
\end{figure}
-
-
An $n$-category $\cC$ determines
a functor $\psi_{\cC;W}$ from $\cell(W)$ to the category of sets
(possibly with additional structure if $k=n$).
Each $k$-ball $X$ of a decomposition $y$ of $W$ has its boundary decomposed into $k{-}1$-balls,
and, as described above, we have a subset $\cC(X)\spl \sub \cC(X)$ of morphisms whose boundaries
are splittable along this decomposition.
-%For a $k$-cell $X$ in a cell composition of $W$, we can consider the ``splittable fields" $\cC(X)_{\bdy X}$, the subset of $\cC(X)$ consisting of fields which are splittable with respect to each boundary $k-1$-cell.
\begin{defn}
Define the functor $\psi_{\cC;W} : \cell(W) \to \Set$ as follows.
@@ -963,13 +962,18 @@
If $x$ is a refinement of $y$, the map $\psi_{\cC;W}(x) \to \psi_{\cC;W}(y)$ is given by the composition maps of $\cC$.
\end{defn}
-When the $n$-category $\cC$ is enriched in some symmetric monoidal category $(A,\boxtimes)$, and $W$ is a
-closed $n$-manifold, the functor $\psi_{\cC;W}$ has target $A$ and
-we replace the cartesian product of sets appearing in Equation \eqref{eq:psi-C} with the monoidal product $\boxtimes$.
-(Moreover, $\psi_{\cC;W}(x)$ might be a subobject, rather than a subset, of the product.)
-Similar things are true if $W$ is an $n$-manifold with non-empty boundary and we
-fix a field on $\bd W$
-(i.e. fix an element of the colimit associated to $\bd W$).
+If $k=n$ in the above definition and we are enriching in some auxiliary category,
+we need to say a bit more.
+We can rewrite Equation \ref{eq:psi-C} as
+\begin{equation} \label{eq:psi-CC}
+ \psi_{\cC;W}(x) \deq \coprod_\beta \prod_a \cC(X_a; \beta) ,
+\end{equation}
+where $\beta$ runs through labelings of the $k{-}1$-skeleton of the decomposition
+(which are compatible when restricted to the $k{-}2$-skeleton), and $\cC(X_a; \beta)$
+means the subset of $\cC(X_a)$ whose restriction to $\bd X_a$ agress with $\beta$.
+If we are enriching over $\cS$ and $k=n$, then $\cC(X_a; \beta)$ is an object in
+$\cS$ and the coproduct and product in Equation \ref{eq:psi-CC} should be replaced by the approriate
+operations in $\cS$ (e.g. direct sum and tensor product if $\cS$ is Vect).
Finally, we construct $\cC(W)$ as the appropriate colimit of $\psi_{\cC;W}$.