is defined to be a weak equivalence if its geometric realization is a weak homotopy equivalence of spaces. A map of simplicial sets is defined to be a cofibration if it is a monomorphism of simplicial sets. It is a difficult theorem of Daniel Quillen that the category of simplicial sets with these classes of morphisms becomes a model category, and indeed satisfies the axioms for a proper closed simplicial model category. A key turning point of the theory is that the geometric realization of a Kan fibration is a Serre fibration of spaces. With the model structure in place, a homotopy theory of simplicial sets can be developed using standard homotopical algebra methods. Furthermore, the geometric realization and singular functors give a Quillen equivalence of closed model categories inducing an equivalence |•|: Ho(sSet) ↔ Ho(Top) between the homotopy category for simplicial sets and the usual homotopy category of CW complexes with homotopy classes of continuous maps between them. It is part of the general definition of a Quillen adjunction that the right adjoint functor (in this case, the singular set functor) carries fibrations (resp. trivial fibrations) to fibrations (resp. trivial fibrations). Simplicial objects A simplicial object X in a category C is a contravariant functor X : Δ → C or equivalently a covariant functor X: Δop → C, where Δ still denotes the simplex category and op the opposite category. When C is the category of sets, we are just talking about the simplicial sets that were defined above. Letting C be the category of groups or category of abelian groups, we obtain the categories sGrp of simplicial groups and sAb of simplicial abelian groups, respectively. Simplicial groups and simplicial abelian groups also carry closed model structures induced by that of the underlying simplicial sets. The homotopy groups of simplicial abelian groups can be computed by making use of the Dold–Kan correspondence which yields an equivalence of categories between simplicial abelian groups and bounded chain complexes and is given by functors N: sAb → Ch+ and Γ: Ch+ → sAb. History and uses of simplicial sets Simplicial sets were originally used to give precise and convenient descriptions of classifying spaces of groups. This idea was vastly extended by Grothendieck's idea of considering classifying spaces of categories, and in particular by Quillen's work of algebraic K-theory. In this work, which earned him a Fields Medal, Quillen developed surprisingly efficient