We outline the main features of the definitions and applications of crossed complexes and cubical #-groupoids with connections.

ABSTRACT. Algebraic structures such as monoids, groups, and categories can be formulated within a category using commutative diagrams. In many common categories these reduce to familiar cases. In particular, group objects in Grp are abelian groups, while internal categories in Grp are equivalent both to group objects in Cat and to crossed modules of groups. In this exposition we give an elementary introduction to some of the key concepts in this area. This expository essay was written in the winter of 1999-2000, early in the course of my PhD research, and has since been updated with supplementary references. I hope you will find it useful. I am indebted to my supervisor, Professor Tim Porter, for his help in preparing this article. 1. GROUPS WITHIN A CATEGORY Let C be a category with finite products. For this it is necessary and sufficient that C have pairwise products (i.e. for any 2 objects C, D ∈ Ob(C), there is a product C × D) and a terminal object, which we shall denote by 1. Examples of suitable categories include Set, Grp, Top and Ab. Let G be an object of C. Then G × G is also an object of C. Suppose we can find a morphism m: G × G → G such that the diagram G × G × G idG×m

This is an extended account of a short presentation with this title given at the Minneapolis IMA Workshop on ‘n-categories: foundations and applications’, June 7-18, 2004,

Crossed complexes are shown to have an algebra sufficiently rich to model the geometric inductive definition of simplices, and so to give a purely algebraic proof of the Homotopy Addition Lemma (HAL) for the boundary of a simplex. This leads to the fundamental crossed complex of a simplicial set. The main result is a normalisation theorem for this fundamental crossed complex, analogous to the usual theorem for simplicial abelian groups, but more complicated to set up and prove, because of the complications of the HAL and of the notion of homotopies for crossed complexes. We start with some historical background, and give a survey of the required basic facts on crossed complexes.

Abstract. Higher Homotopy van Kampen Theorems allow some colimit calculations of certain homotopical invariants of glued spaces. One corollary is to describe homotopical excision in critical dimensions in terms of induced modules and crossed modules over groupoids. This paper shows how fibred and cofibred categories give an overall context for discussing and computing such constructions, allowing one result to cover many cases. A useful general result is that the inclusion of a fibre of a fibred category preserves connected colimits. The main homotopical applications are to pairs of spaces with several base points; we also describe briefly applications to triads. 1.

filtered spaces, crossed complexes, cubical higher homotopy groupoids

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