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1. • CommentRowNumber1.
   • CommentAuthorUrs
   • CommentTimeDec 4th 2013
   • (edited Dec 4th 2013)
   • PermaLink
   Author: Urs
   Format: MarkdownItexWhile a lot of modern mathematics has found its way into modern theoretical physics, recently in a discussion with theoreticians I was struck by how utterly unknown the basics of stable homotopy theory are to some or most of them. So I looked at our nLab page _[[stable homotopy theory]]_ to see if I could just point them there for explanation. But, no, that page is in a sorry stubby state. Then I googled for "introduction to stable homotopy theory". That didn't really show up what I was hoping I could link to either (I did find a brief seminar note by Dylan Wilson, though, which maybe comes the closests, and added that to the entry.) So this message here is just a "somebody should"-reminder: it seems there would be a real demand for somebody to write a few lines "What is stable homotopy theory?" for an audience of people reasonably mathematically fluent but likely with only passing acquaintance with plain homotopy theory and not the faintest remote idea of what on earth a "spectrum" might be, if not the collection of "eigenvalues" of a linear operator. I can try to write something, even though currently it seems unlikely that I will find much leisure. But I thought I post this reminder here, on the off-chance that it inspires somebody to give it a go. Just a handful of paragraphs in the nLab entry would already be a good, I think.

   While a lot of modern mathematics has found its way into modern theoretical physics, recently in a discussion with theoreticians I was struck by how utterly unknown the basics of stable homotopy theory are to some or most of them.

   So I looked at our nLab page stable homotopy theory to see if I could just point them there for explanation. But, no, that page is in a sorry stubby state.

   Then I googled for “introduction to stable homotopy theory”. That didn’t really show up what I was hoping I could link to either (I did find a brief seminar note by Dylan Wilson, though, which maybe comes the closests, and added that to the entry.)

   So this message here is just a “somebody should”-reminder: it seems there would be a real demand for somebody to write a few lines “What is stable homotopy theory?” for an audience of people reasonably mathematically fluent but likely with only passing acquaintance with plain homotopy theory and not the faintest remote idea of what on earth a “spectrum” might be, if not the collection of “eigenvalues” of a linear operator.

   I can try to write something, even though currently it seems unlikely that I will find much leisure. But I thought I post this reminder here, on the off-chance that it inspires somebody to give it a go. Just a handful of paragraphs in the nLab entry would already be a good, I think.