On Nilpotent Extensions of ∞-Categories and the Cyclotomic Trace

Source abstract

Abstract We do three things in this paper: (1) study the analog of localization sequences (in the sense of algebraic $K$-theory of stable $\infty$-categories) for additive $\infty$-categories, (2) define the notion of nilpotent extensions for suitable $\infty$-categories and furnish interesting examples such as categorical square-zero extensions, and (3) use (1) and (2) to extend the Dundas–Goodwillie–McCarthy theorem for stable $\infty$-categories that are not monogenically generated (such as the stable $\infty$-category of Voevodsky’s motives or the stable $\infty$-category of perfect complexes on some algebraic stacks). The key input in our paper is Bondarko’s notion of weight structures, which provides a “ring-with-many-objects” analog of a connective $\mathbb{E}_1$-ring spectrum. As applications, we prove cdh descent results for truncating invariants of stacks extending the work by Hoyois–Krishna for homotopy $K$-theory and establish new cases of Blanc’s lattice conjecture.