Uniqueness of differential characters and differential K-theory via homological algebra

Simons and Sullivan constructed a model of differential K-theory, and showed that the differential K-theory functor fits into a hexagon diagram. They asked whether, like the case of differential characters, this hexagon diagram uniquely determines the differential K-theory functor. This article provides a partial affirmative answer to their question: For any fixed compact manifold, the differential K-theory groups are uniquely determined by the Simons-Sullivan diagram up to an isomorphism compatible with the diagonal arrows of the hexagon diagram. We state a necessary and sufficient condition for an affirmative answer to the full question. This approach further yields an alternative proof of a weaker version of Simons and Sullivan's results concerning axiomatization of differential characters. We further obtain a uniqueness result for generalised differential cohomology groups. The proofs here are based on a recent work of Pawar.