Boolean algebras, Morita invariance and the algebraic K-theory of Lawvere theories

Abstract

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.