On multiplicative spectral sequences for nerves and the free loop spaces

Abstract

We construct a multiplicative spectral sequence converging to the cohomology algebra of the diagonal complex of a bisimplicial set with coefficients in a field. The construction provides a spectral sequence converging to the cohomology algebra of the classifying space of a category internal to the category of topological spaces. By applying the machinery to a Borel construction, we explicitly determine the mod p cohomology algebra of the free loop space of the real projective space for each odd prime p. This example is emphasized as an important computational case. Moreover, we represent generators in the singular de Rham cohomology algebra of the diffeological free loop space of a non-simply connected manifold M with differential forms on the universal cover of M via Chen's iterated integral map.