Weight structures and simple dg modules for positive dg algebras

Using techniques due to Dwyer-Greenlees-Iyengar we construct weight structures in triangulated categories generated by compact objects. We apply our result to show that, for a dg category whose homology vanishes in negative degrees and is semi-simple in degree 0, each simple module over the homology lifts to a dg module which is unique up to isomorphism in the derived category. This allows us, in certain situations, to deduce the existence of a canonical t-structure on the perfect derived category of a dg algebra. From this, we can obtain a bijection between hearts of t-structures and sets of so-called simple-minded objects for some dg algebras (including Ginzburg algebras associated to quivers with potentials). In three appendices, we elucidate the relation between Milnor colimits and homotopy colimits and clarify the construction of t-structures from sets of compact objects in triangulated categories as well as the construction of a canonical weight structure on the unbonded derived category of a non positive dg category.