The tangent complex of K-theory

Abstract

We prove that the tangent complex of K-theory, in terms of (abelian) deformation problems over a characteristic 0 field k, is cyclic homology (over k). This equivalence is compatible with the $\lambda$-operations. In particular, the relative algebraic K-theory functor fully determines the absolute cyclic homology over any field k of characteristic 0. We also show that the Loday-Quillen-Tsygan generalized trace comes as the tangent morphism of the canonical map $BGL_\infty \to K$. The proof builds on results of Goodwillie, using Wodzicki's excision for cyclic homology and formal deformation theory a la Lurie-Pridham.