Smashing subcategories and the telescope conjecture – an algebraic approach

Abstract.

We prove a modified version of Ravenel’s telescope conjecture. It is shown that every smashing subcategory of the stable homotopy category is generated by a set of maps between finite spectra. This result is based on a new characterization of smashing subcategories, which leads in addition to a classification of these subcategories in terms of the category of finite spectra. The approach presented here is purely algebraic; it is based on an analysis of pure-injective objects in a compactly generated triangulated category, and covers therefore also situations arising in algebraic geometry and representation theory.