Curved operadic calculus

Curved algebras are a generalization of differential graded algebras which have found numerous applications recently. The goal of this foundational article is to introduce the notion of a curved operad, and to develop the operadic calculus at this new level. The algebraic side of the curved operadic calculus provides us with universal constructions: using a new notion of curved operadic bimodules, we construct curved universal enveloping algebras. Since there is no notion of quasi-isomorphism in the curved context, we develop the homotopy theory of curved operads using new methods. This approach leads us to introduce the new notion of a curved absolute operad, which is the notion Koszul dual to counital cooperads non-necessarily conilpotent, and we construct a complete Bar-Cobar adjunction between them. We endow curved absolute operads with a suitable model category structure. We establish a duality square of duality functors which intertwines this complete Bar-Cobar construction with the Bar-Cobar adjunction between unital operads and conilpotent curved cooperads. This allows us to compute minimal cofibrant resolutions for various curved absolute operads. Using the complete Bar construction, we show a general Homotopy Transfer Theorem for curved algebras. Along the way, we construct the non-necessarily conilpotent cofree cooperad.