Orbispaces

Abstract

In this thesis, I introduce a new definition for orbispaces based a notion of stratified fibration and prove it's equivalence with other existing definitions. I study the notion of orbispace structures on a given stratified space. I then set up two parallel theories of stratified fibrations, one for topological spaces, and one for simplicial sets. Modulo a technical comparison between the two theories, I construct a classifying space for orbispace structures. Using a conjectural obstruction theory, I then prove that every compact orbispace is equivalent to the quotient of a compact space by the action of a compact Lie group.