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See also: What does $\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})\times_{\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{F}_{1})}\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})$ look like?.


One of the most mysterious objects in mathematics is the elusive "field with one element", and coming with it is the arithmetic curve $\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})\times_{\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{F}_{1})}\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})\cong\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z}\otimes_{\mathbb{F}_{1}}\mathbb{Z})$. I've heard people compare algebraic geometry over the field with one element a bit with spectral algebraic geometry (e.g. here), and (from what I understand) the analogue of $\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})\times_{\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{F}_{1})}\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})$ there should be the spectral scheme $\mathrm{Spét}(H\mathbb{Z})\times_{\mathrm{Spét}(\mathbb{S})}\mathrm{Spét}(H\mathbb{Z})$.

What does the tensor product $H\mathbb{Z}\wedge_{\mathbb{S}}H\mathbb{Z}$ of the Eilenberg Mac Lane $E_\infty$-rings associated to $\mathbb{Z}$ look like?

And $\mathrm{Spét}(H\mathbb{Z})\times_{\mathrm{Spét}(\mathbb{S})}\mathrm{Spét}(H\mathbb{Z})$?

Emily
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Just like in classical algebraic geometry, we have a natural equivalence of spectral Deligne--Mumford stacks $$ \DeclareMathOperator{\Spet}{Spét} \Spet (\mathbf{Z}\underset{\mathbf{S}}{\otimes}\mathbf{Z})\xrightarrow{\simeq} \Spet\mathbf{Z} \underset{\Spet \mathbf{S}}{\times} \Spet \mathbf{Z}, $$ which you can find in Proposition.1.4.11.1.(3) in Lurie's ''Spectral Algebraic Geometry''. The universal property of the Cartesian product on the right is perhaps not super exciting: mapping into this product from an $X$ is just a choice of two maps $f,g\colon X\to \Spet \mathbf{Z}$ (as there is a unique map $X\to \Spet \mathbf{S}$).

As far as I am aware, people think of the homotopy groups of $\mathbf{Z}\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{Z}$ as quite complicated. A hint towards this ''fact'' is that $\mathbf{F}_p\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{F}_p$ is the mod $p$ dual Steenrod algebra. Maybe one could use Bockstein spectral sequences to try and calculate the homotopy groups of $\mathbf{Z}\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{Z}$ from this fact, but even the integral cohomology of things like $K(\mathbf{Z}/2,n)$ is pretty complicated (see Theorem 10.4 of May's ``A general approach to Steenrod operations''). One could also think about using a Tor spectral sequence to calculate $\pi_\ast \mathbf{Z}\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{Z}$, but once one tries to write down an $E_2$-page, one realises this is unfeasible.

However, general stable homotopy theory tells us that $\pi_0 \mathbf{Z}\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{Z}\simeq \mathbf{Z}$, as more generally we have a natural equivalence of abelian groups $$\pi_0 M\underset{R}{\otimes} N\simeq \pi_0 M\underset{\pi_0 R}{\otimes} \pi_0 N$$ for an $E_1$-ring $R$ and left module $N$ and right module $M$, where $R,M$, and $N$ only have homotopy groups in nonnegative degree. We also know that $\Spet R$ has underlying DM-stack $\Spet \pi_0 R$. This says that the underlying classical DM-stack for $\Spet (\mathbf{Z}\underset{\mathbf{S}}{\otimes}\mathbf{Z})$ is just $\Spet\mathbf{Z}$; all the extra information is ``higher'' information.

(This is more of a comment than an answer...I'd also be interested if anyone else had more to add!)

Viktor Vaughn
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Jack Davies
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  • Thank you so much, this is a really awesome answer! – Emily Aug 14 '21 at 19:05
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    I asked this same question on MathOverflow too, maybe people there might have more to add. (Though personally your answer strikes me as nothing short of amazing! I'm asking there only because you said you would be interested in more information as well :) – Emily Aug 14 '21 at 19:07
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    And luckily for us, some more references came out of that overflow-cross-post: there is a discussion of $\pi_\ast \mathbf{Z}\otimes_{\mathbf{S}}\mathbf{Z}$ here (for anyone else that stumbles across this!) – Jack Davies Aug 16 '21 at 06:30