Brenda Johnson

Title: Functor calculus and precalculus
Abstract: Functor calculi have been developed in a variety of forms and contexts for use in algebraic topology and homological algebra. Examples include the manifold calculus of Tom Goodwillie and Michael Weiss, Goodwillie’s calculus of homotopy functors, Weiss’ orthogonal calculus, and the discrete calculi for abelian and simplicial model categories developed with Kristine Bauer and Randy McCarthy. After reviewing common features of these calculi, I will show how the discrete calculus tower is constructed and describe work in progress with Kathryn Hess to identify a general framework, inspired by the discrete calculus, that can be used to generate functor calculi.