English

Grothendieck-Witt theory of derived schemes

Algebraic Geometry 2025-08-13 v1 Algebraic Topology K-Theory and Homology

Abstract

We construct a non-A1\mathbb{A}^1-invariant motivic ring spectrum KO\mathrm{KO} over Spec(Z)\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z}), whose associated cohomology theory on qcqs derived schemes is the Grothendieck-Witt theory of classical symmetric forms (as opposed to homotopy symmetric forms). In particular, we show that this theory satisfies Nisnevich descent, smooth blowup excision, a projective bundle formula, and is locally left Kan extended from smooth Z\mathbb{Z}-schemes up to Bass delooping. More generally, our construction produces KO\mathrm{KO}-modules representing localizing invariants of two different families of Poincar\'e structures on derived schemes, which we call "classical" and "genuine"; the latter Poincar\'e structures are defined for spectral schemes with involution, but the former only for derived schemes. We then establish basic properties of these motivic spectra. As in A1\mathbb{A}^1-homotopy theory, the fracture square of KO\mathrm{KO} with respect to the Hopf element recovers the fundamental cartesian square relating GW-theory, L-theory, and K-theory. A new phenomenon when 22 is not a unit is that KO\mathrm{KO} is not Bott-periodic, and the left and right Bott periodizations of KO\mathrm{KO} represent the Grothendieck-Witt theories of homotopy symmetric and homotopy quadratic forms, respectively. We also construct the expected metalinear E\mathrm{E}_\infty-orientation of KO\mathrm{KO}. Finally, we show that the A1\mathbb{A}^1-localization of KO\mathrm{KO} recovers the motivic spectrum recently constructed by Calm\`es, Harpaz, and Nardin.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.08905,
  title  = {Grothendieck-Witt theory of derived schemes},
  author = {Marc Hoyois and Markus Land},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.08905},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

34 pages. Comments welcome!