Enriched functors and stable homotopy theory

Abstract

In this paper we employ enriched category theory to construct a convenient model for several stable homotopy categories. This is achieved in a three-step process by introducing the pointwise, homotopy functor and stable model category structures for enriched functors. The general setup is shown to describe equivariant stable homotopy theory, and we recover Lydakis' model category of simplicial functors as a special case. Other examples - including motivic homotopy theory - will be treated in subsequent papers.