On Nilpotent Extensions of ∞-Categories and the Cyclotomic Trace

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.