Indexed prespectrum

An indexed prespectrum over $U$ consists of based spaces $E(V)$ indexed by finite-dimensional $V\subset U$, with unital associative maps $S^{W\ominus V}\wedge E(V)\to E(W)$ for inclusions $V\subset W$. The orthogonal differences make iterated suspension coordinates compose consistently.

For compact $X$ over the space of linear isometries $U\to U\prime$, choose a subordinate flag for a family of linear isometries $V_i,W_i$. The vector bundle ${\xi }_i$ has fiber $W_i\ominus f_x(V_i)$. Form $P(W_i)=\mathrm{Th}({\xi }_i)\wedge E(V_i)$. Its structure maps use the orthogonal decompositionand the structure map of $E$. The twisted half-smash product is the spectrification $LP$, after extending from the cofinal flag. Unlike an arbitrary replacement by $X_{+}\wedge E$, this definition retains the specified isometry family at the point-set level.

For isometry families $f_x:U\to U\prime$ and $g_y:U\prime \to U\prime \prime$, the complement of $g_y{f}_x(V)$ decomposes orthogonally as the complement of $g_y(W)$ plus the image under $g_y$ of the complement of $f_x(V)$ in $W$. Their fiberwise one-point compactifications therefore give the same Thom space as the external direct sum. The resulting stage isomorphisms respect structure maps and give $Y{⋉}_g(X{⋉}_{f}E)\cong (Y\times X){⋉}_{g\circ f}E$ in the stable homotopy category.

In the genuine indexed point-set model, spectrification $L$ is the left adjoint to the forgetful functor from indexed spectra to indexed prespectra. An indexed spectrum has adjoint structure maps $E(V)\to {\Omega }^{W\ominus V}E(W)$ that are homeomorphisms. Applying $L$ to a cellular indexed prespectrum supplies the associated genuine topological spectrum.