The algebraic K-theory of Lawvere theories is a conceptual device to elucidate the stable homology of the symmetry groups of algebraic structures such as the permutation groups and the automorphism groups of free groups. In this paper, we fully address the question of how Morita equivalence classes of Lawvere theories interact with algebraic K-theory. On the one hand, we show that the higher algebraic K-theory is invariant under passage to matrix theories. On the other hand, we show that the higher algebraic K-theory is not fully Morita invariant because of the behavior of idempotents in non-additive contexts: We compute the K-theory of all Lawvere theories Morita equivalent to the theory of Boolean algebras.

Loday’sassembly maps approximate the K-theory of group rings by the K-theory of the coefficient ring and the corresponding homology of the group. We present a generalisation that places both ingredients on the same footing. Building on Elmendorf–Mandell’s multiplicativity results and our earlier work, we show that the K-theory of Lawvere theories is lax monoidal. This result makes it possible to present our theory in a user-friendly way without using higher-categorical language. It also allows us to extend the idea to new contexts and set up a nonabelian interpolation scheme, raising novel questions. Numerous examples illustrate the scope of our extension.

Suppose that $N_1$ and $N_2$ are closed smooth manifolds of dimension n that are homeomorphic. We prove that the spaces of smooth knots, $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N_1)$ and $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N_2),$ have the same homotopy $(2n-7)$ -type. In the four-dimensional case, this means that the spaces of smooth knots in homeomorphic $4$ -manifolds have sets $\pi _0$ of components that are in bijection, and the corresponding path components have the same fundamental groups $\pi _1$ . The result about $\pi _0$ is well-known and elementary, but the result about $\pi _1$ appears to be new. The result gives a negative partial answer to a question of Oleg Viro. Our proof uses the Goodwillie–Weiss embedding tower. We give a new model for the quadratic stage of the Goodwillie–Weiss tower, and prove that the homotopy type of the quadratic approximation of the space of knots in N does not depend on the smooth structure on N. Our results also give a lower bound on $\pi _2 \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N)$ . We use our model to show that for every choice of basepoint, each of the homotopy groups, $\pi _1$ and $\pi _2,$ of $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, \mathrm {S}^1\times \mathrm {S}^3)$ contains an infinitely generated free abelian group.

We prove twisted homological stability with polynomial coefficients for automorphism groups of free nilpotent groups of any given class. These groups interpolate between two extremes for which homological stability was known before, the general linear groups over the integers and the automorphism groups of free groups. The proof presented here uses a general result that applies to arbitrary extensions of groups, and that has other applications as well.

The Segal map connects the Burnside category of finite groups to the stable homotopy category of their classifying spaces. The chromatic filtrations on the latter can be used to define filtrations on the former. We prove a related conjecture of Ravenel's in some cases, and present counterexamples to the general statement.