Loop space homology of a small category

TL;DR

This paper generalizes Benson's algebraic description of the mod p homology of loop spaces of p-completed classifying spaces to a broader setting involving small categories and their plus constructions.

Contribution

It extends Benson's results to small categories, providing a new algebraic framework for understanding the homology of loop spaces of plus constructions.

Findings

Homology of loop spaces can be described via chain complexes of projective modules.

The algebraic description applies to small categories beyond finite groups.

Benson's theorem is a special case within this broader framework.

Abstract

In a 2009 paper, Dave Benson gave a description in purely algebraic terms of the mod $p$ homology of $\Omega(BG^\wedge_p)$, when $G$ is a finite group, $BG^\wedge_p$ is the $p$-completion of its classifying space, and $\Omega(BG^\wedge_p)$ is the loop space of $BG^\wedge_p$. The main purpose of this work is to shed new light on Benson's result by extending it to a more general setting. As a special case, we show that if $\mathcal{C}$ is a small category, $|\mathcal{C}|$ is the geometric realization of its nerve, $R$ is a commutative ring, and $|\mathcal{C}|^+_R$ is a "plus construction" for $|\mathcal{C}|$ in the sense of Quillen (taken with respect to $R$-homology), then $H_*(\Omega(|\mathcal{C}|^+_R);R)$ can be described as the homology of a chain complex of projective $R\mathcal{C}$-modules satisfying a certain list of algebraic conditions that determine it uniquely up to chain homotopy. Benson's theorem is now the case where $\mathcal{C}$ is the category of a finite group $G$, $R=\mathbb{F}_p$ for some prime $p$, and $|\mathcal{C}|^+_R=BG^\wedge_p$.