On the homotopy groups of spheres in homotopy type theory

The goal of this thesis is to prove that π4(S3) ≃ Z/2Z in homotopy type theory. In particular it is a constructive and purely homotopy-theoretic proof. We first recall the basic concepts of homotopy type theory, and we prove some well-known results about the homotopy groups of spheres: the computation of the homotopy groups of the circle, the triviality of those of the form πk(Sn) with k < n, and the construction of the Hopf fibration. We then move to more advanced tools. In particular, we define the James construction which allows us to prove the Freudenthal suspension theorem and the fact that there exists a natural number n such that π4(S3) ≃ Z/nZ. Then we study the smash product of spheres, we construct the cohomology ring of a space, and we introduce the Hopf invariant, allowing us to narrow down the n to either 1 or 2. The Hopf invariant also allows us to prove that all the groups of the form π4n−1(S2n) are infinite. Finally we construct the Gysin exact sequence, allowing us to compute the cohomology of CP2 and to prove that π4(S3) ≃ Z/2Z and that more generally πn+1(Sn) ≃ Z/2Z for every n ≥ 3

[1]  H. Freudenthal,et al.  Über die Klassen der Sphärenabbildungen I. Große Dimensionen , 1938 .

[2]  P. Aczel,et al.  Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics , 2013 .

[3]  Daniel R. Licata,et al.  A Cubical Approach to Synthetic Homotopy Theory , 2015, 2015 30th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science.

[4]  Daniel R. Licata,et al.  Eilenberg-MacLane spaces in homotopy type theory , 2014, CSL-LICS.

[5]  Michael Shulman,et al.  Univalence for inverse EI diagrams , 2015, 1508.02410.

[6]  S. Awodey,et al.  Homotopy theoretic models of identity types , 2007, Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[7]  Kristina Sojakova,et al.  Higher Inductive Types as Homotopy-Initial Algebras , 2014, POPL.

[8]  P. Lumsdaine,et al.  THE SIMPLICIAL MODEL OF UNIVALENT FOUNDATIONS , 2014 .

[9]  Thierry Coquand,et al.  Cubical Type Theory: A Constructive Interpretation of the Univalence Axiom , 2015, TYPES.

[10]  R. Ho Algebraic Topology , 2022 .

[11]  Thierry Coquand,et al.  A Model of Type Theory in Cubical Sets , 2013, TYPES.

[12]  Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine,et al.  A Mechanization of the Blakers–Massey Connectivity Theorem in Homotopy Type Theory , 2016, 2016 31st Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS).

[13]  Daniel R. Licata,et al.  Calculating the Fundamental Group of the Circle in Homotopy Type Theory , 2013, 2013 28th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science.

[14]  P. Martin-Löf An Intuitionistic Theory of Types: Predicative Part , 1975 .

[15]  J. Lurie Higher Topos Theory , 2006, math/0608040.