Toda–Smith complex
In mathematics, Toda–Smith complexes are spectra characterized by having a particularly simple homology, and are used in stable homotopy theory.
Toda–Smith complexes provided examples of periodic maps. Thus, they led to the construction of the nilpotent and periodicity theorems,[1] which provided the first organization of the stable homotopy groups of spheres into families of maps localized at a prime.
Mathematical context
The story begins with the degree map on (as a circle in the complex plane):
The degree map is well defined for in general, where . If we apply the infinite suspension functor to this map, and we take the cofiber of the resulting map:
We find that has the remarkable property of coming from a Moore space (i.e., a designer (co)homology space: , and is trivial for all ).
It is also of note that the periodic maps, , , and , come from degree maps between the Toda–Smith complexes, , , and respectively.
Formal definition
The th Toda–Smith complex, where , is a finite spectrum which satisfies the property that its BP-homology, , is isomorphic to .
That is, Toda–Smith complexes are completely characterized by their -local properties, and are defined as any object satisfying one of the following equations:
It may help the reader to recall that , = .
Examples of Toda–Smith complexes
- the sphere spectrum, , which is .
- the mod p Moore spectrum, , which is