Title: Higher homotopy operations as obstructions
Speaker: Mark Johnson (Penn State Altoona)
Abstract: In joint work with Blanc and Turner, the authors have proposed a definition of higher homotopy operations as obstructions to finding strictly commutative representatives of homotopy commutative diagrams. This approach works even for unpointed contexts, which is novel, and in "hybrid" contexts, where some maps must remain pointed but others need not. This presentation provides concrete representatives for higher operations, exploiting certain "pullback grids", and if time allows some indication of how to deal with indeterminacy will be mentioned. The background tools come from the language of Reedy model categories, and this talk will expand upon my talk at the AMS meeting at OSU last spring.
