Cyclic category

In mathematics, the cyclic category or cycle category or category of cycles is a category of finite cyclically ordered sets and degree-1 maps between them. It was introduced by (Connes 1983).

Definition

The cyclic category Λ has one object Λ_n for each natural number n = 0, 1, 2, ...

The morphisms from Λ_m to Λ_n are represented by increasing functions f from the integers to the integers, such that f(x+m+1) = f(x)+n+1, where two functions f and g represent the same morphism when their difference is divisible by n+1.

Informally, the morphisms from Λ_m to Λ_n can be thought of as maps of (oriented) necklaces with m+1 and n+1 beads. More precisely, the morphisms can be identified with homotopy classes of degree 1 increasing maps from S¹ to itself that map the subgroup Z/(m+1)Z to Z/(n+1)Z.

Properties

The number of morphisms from Λ_m to Λ_n is (m+n+1)!/m!n!.

The cyclic category is self dual.

The classifying space BΛ of the cyclic category is a classifying space BS¹of the circle group S¹.

Cyclic sets

A cyclic set is a contravariant functor from the cyclic category to sets. More generally a cyclic object in a category C is a contravariant functor from the cyclic category to C.

See also

• Cyclic homology
• Simplex category

References

• Connes, Alain (1983), "Cohomologie cyclique et foncteurs Extⁿ" (in French), Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série I 296 (23): 953–958, http://www.alainconnes.org/docs/n83.pdf, retrieved 15 May 2011 
• Connes, Alain (2002), "Noncommutative Geometry Year 2000", in Fokas, A., Highlights of mathematical physics, pp. 49–110, ISBN 0-8218-3223-9, Bibcode: 2000math.....11193C, http://www.alainconnes.org/docs/2000.pdf, retrieved 15 May 2011 
• Kostrikin, A. I.; Shafarevich, I. R. (1994), Algebra V: Homological algebra, Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences, 38, Springer, pp. 60–61, ISBN 3-540-53373-7 
• Loday, Jean-Louis (1992), Cyclic homology, Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften [Fundamental Principles of Mathematical Sciences], 301, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-53339-9, https://books.google.com/books?id=KaLshoPoSlsC 

External links

• Cycle category in nLab