The strict globular omega-categories formalize the execution paths of a parallel automaton and the homotopies between them. One associates to such (and any) omega-category C three homology theories. The first one is called the globular homology. It contains the oriented loops of C. The two other ones are called the negative (resp. positive) corner homology. They contain in a certain manner the branching areas of execution paths or negative corners (resp. the merging areas of execution paths or positive corners) of C. Two natural linear maps called the negative (resp. the positive) Hurewicz morphism from the globular homology to the negative (resp. positive) corner homology are constructed. We explain the reason why these constructions allow the reinterpretation of some geometric problems coming from computer science.

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Concurrency, i.e., the domain in computer science which deals with parallel (asynchronous) computations, has very strong links with algebraic topology; this is what we are developing in this paper, giving a survey of “geometric” models for concurrency. We show that the properties we want to prove on concurrent systems are stable under some form of deformation, which is almost homotopy. In fact, as the “direction ” of time matters, we have to allow deformation only as long as we do not reverse the direction of time. This calls for a new homotopy theory: “directed ” or di-homotopy. We develop some of the geometric intuition behind this theory and give some hints about the algebraic objects one can associate with it (in particular homology groups). For some historic as well as for some deeper reasons, the theory is at a stage where there is a nice blend between cubical, ω-categorical and topological techniques.

We explore the combinatorial properties of the branching areas of execution paths in higher dimensional automata. Mathematically, this means that we investigate the combinatorics of the negative corner (or branching) homology of a globular #-category and the combinatorics of a new homology theory called the reduced branching homology. The latter is the homology of the quotient of the branching complex by the sub-complex generated by its thin elements. Conjecturally it coincides with the non reduced theory for higher dimensional automata, that is #-categories freely generated by precubical sets. As application, we calculate the branching homology of some #-categories and we give some invariance results for the reduced branching homology. We only treat the branching side. The merging side, that is the case of merging areas of execution paths is similar and can be easily deduced from the branching side.

This paper is a survey of the new notions and results scattered in [13], [11] and [12]. Starting from a formalization of higher dimensional automata (HDA) by strict globular !-categories, the construction of a diagram of simplicial sets over the three-object small category gl ! + is exposed. Some of the properties discovered so far on the corresponding simplicial homology theories are explained, in particular their links with geometric problems coming from concurrency theory in computer science.

We introduce a new simplicial nerve of higher dimensional automata whose homology groups yield a new definition of the globular homology. With this new definition, the drawbacks noticed with the construction of [Gau99] disappear. Moreover the important morphisms which associate to every globe its corresponding branching area and merging area of execution paths become morphisms of simplicial sets.

Using the theory of pasting presentations, developed in chapter 2, I give a detailed description of the tensor product on !-categories, which extends Gray's tensor product on 2-categories and which is closely related to Brown-Higgins's tensor product on !-groupoids. Immediate consequences are a general and uniform definition of higher dimensional lax natural transformations, and a nice and transparent description of the corresponding internal homs. Further consequences will be in the development of a theory for weak n-categories, since both tensor products and lax structures are crucial in this. Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Cubes and cubical sets 5 2.1 Cubes combinatorially : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 2.2 A model category for cubes : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6 2.3 Generating the model category for cubes : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7 2.4 Cubical sets : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 9 2.5 Duality : : : : : : : : : : : : : ...

One can associate to any strict globular omega-category three augmented simplicial nerves called the globular nerve, the branching and the merging semi-cubical nerves. If this strict globular omega-category is freely generated by a precubical set, then the corresponding homology theories contain different informations about the geometry of the higher dimensional automaton modeled by the precubical set. Adding inverses in this omega-category to any morphism of dimension greater than 2 and with respect to any composition laws of dimension greater than 1 does not change these homology theories. In such a framework, the globular nerve always satisfies the Kan condition. On the other hand, both branching and merging nerves never satisfy it, except in some very particular and uninteresting situations. In this paper, we introduce two new nerves (the branching and merging semi-globular nerves) satisfying the Kan condition and having conjecturally the same simplicial homology as the branching and merging semi-cubical nerves respectively in such framework. The latter conjecture is related to the thin elements conjecture already introduced in our previous papers.

The pasting theorem showed that pasting schemes are useful in studying free !-categories. It was thought that their inflexibility with respect to composition and identities prohibited wider use. This is not the case: there is a way of dealing with identities which makes it possible to describe !-categories in terms of generating pasting schemes and relations between generated pastings, i.e., with pasting presentations. In this chapter I develop the necessary machinery for this. The main result, that the !-category generated by a pasting presentation is universal with respect to respectable families of realizations, is a generalization of the pasting theorem. Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Pasting schemes according to Johnson 4 2.1 Graded sets : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4 2.2 !-categories : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 2.3 Pasting schemes : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6 2.4 The pasting theorem : : ...

We show the equivalence of two kinds of strict multiple category, namely the wellknown globular o-categories, and the cubical o-categories with connections. # 2002