In
stable homotopy theory, a ring spectrum is a
spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...
''E'' together with a multiplication map
:''μ'': ''E'' ∧ ''E'' → ''E''
and a unit map
: ''η'': ''S'' → ''E'',
where ''S'' is the
sphere spectrum. These maps have to satisfy
associativity
In mathematics, the associative property is a property of some binary operations, which means that rearranging the parentheses in an expression will not change the result. In propositional logic, associativity is a valid rule of replacement ...
and unitality conditions up to homotopy, much in the same way as the multiplication of a
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
is associative and unital. That is,
: ''μ'' (id ∧ ''μ'') ∼ ''μ'' (''μ'' ∧ id)
and
: ''μ'' (id ∧ ''η'') ∼ id ∼ ''μ''(''η'' ∧ id).
Examples of ring spectra include
singular homology
In algebraic topology, singular homology refers to the study of a certain set of algebraic invariants of a topological space ''X'', the so-called homology groups H_n(X). Intuitively, singular homology counts, for each dimension ''n'', the ''n''- ...
with coefficients in a
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
,
complex cobordism In mathematics, complex cobordism is a generalized cohomology theory related to cobordism of manifolds. Its spectrum is denoted by MU. It is an exceptionally powerful cohomology theory, but can be quite hard to compute, so often instead of using it ...
,
K-theory
In mathematics, K-theory is, roughly speaking, the study of a ring generated by vector bundles over a topological space or scheme. In algebraic topology, it is a cohomology theory known as topological K-theory. In algebra and algebraic geometr ...
, and
Morava K-theory.
See also
*
Highly structured ring spectrum
In mathematics, a highly structured ring spectrum or A_\infty-ring is an object in homotopy theory encoding a refinement of a multiplicative structure on a cohomology theory. A commutative version of an A_\infty-ring is called an E_\infty-ring. W ...
References
*
Algebraic topology
Homotopy theory
de:Ringspektrum
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