Are operads algebraic theories?

Kleisli bicategories are a natural environment in which the combinatorics involved in various notions of algebraic theory can be handled in a uniform way. The setting allows a clear account of comparisons between such notions. Algebraic theories, symmetric operads and nonsymmetric operads are treated as examples.

This is an expository article about operads in homotopy theory written as a chapter for an upcoming book. It concentrates on what the author views as the basic topics in the homotopy theory of operadic algebras: the definition of operads, the definition of algebras over operads, structural aspects of categories of algebras over operads, model structures on algebra categories, and comparison of algebra categories when changing operad or underlying category. In addition, it inc...

Notions of `operad' and `multicategory' abound. This work provides a single framework in which many of these various notions can be expressed. Explicitly: given a monad * on a category S, we define the term `(S,*)-multicategory', subject to certain conditions on S and *. Different choices of S and * give some of the existing notions of operad and multicategory. We then describe the `algebras' for an (S,*)-multicategory and, finally, present a tentative selection of further de...

Operads were originally defined as V-operads, that is, enriched in a symmetric or braided monoidal category V. The symmetry or braiding in V is required in order to describe the associativity axiom the operads must obey, as well as the associativity that must be a property of the action of an operad on any of its algebras. After a review of the role of operads in loop space theory and higher categories we go over definitions of iterated monoidal categories and introduce a lar...

We give a description of unital operads in a symmetric monoidal category as monoids in a monoidal category of unital $\Lambda$-sequences. This is a new variant of Kelly's old description of operads as monoids in the monoidal category of symmetric sequences. The monads associated to unital operads are the ones of interest in iterated loop space theory and factorization homology, among many other applications. Our new description of unital operads allows an illuminating compari...

We give a definition of an operad with general groups of equivariance suitable for use in any symmetric monoidal category with appropriate colimits. We then apply this notion to study the 2-category of algebras over an operad in Cat. We show that any operad is finitary, that an operad is cartesian if and only if the group actions are nearly free (in a precise fashion), and that the existence of a pseudo-commutative structure largely depends on the groups of equivariance. We c...

The aim of this sequel to arXiv:1812.02935 is to set up the cornerstones of Koszul duality and Koszulity in the context of operads over a large class of operadic categories. In particular, for these operadic categories we will study concrete examples of binary quadratic operads, describe their Koszul duals and prove that they are Koszul. This includes operads whose algebras are the most important operad- and PROP-like structures such as the classical operads, their variants s...

This is a copy of the article by the same authors published in Duke Math. J. (1994).

This survey provides an elementary introduction to operads and to their applications in homotopical algebra. The aim is to explain how the notion of an operad was prompted by the necessity to have an algebraic object which encodes higher homotopies. We try to show how universal this theory is by giving many applications in Algebra, Geometry, Topology, and Mathematical Physics. (This text is accessible to any student knowing what tensor products, chain complexes, and categorie...

We develop a self-dual, bivariant extension of the concept of an operadic category, its associated operads and their algebras. Our new theory covers, besides all classical subjects, also generalized traces and bivariant versions of Kapranov's charades. It is, moreover, combinatorially rich and aesthetically pleasing.