Decomposition spaces, incidence algebras and Möbius inversion III: The decomposition space of Möbius intervals

Decomposition spaces are simplicial ∞-groupoids subject to a certain exactness condition, needed to induce a coalgebra structure on the space of arrows. Conservative ULF functors (CULF) between decomposition spaces induce coalgebra homomorphisms. Suitable added finiteness conditions define the notion of Möbius decomposition space, a far-reaching generalisation of the notion of Möbius category of Leroux. In this paper, we show that the Lawvere–Menni Hopf algebra of Möbius intervals, which contains the universal Möbius function (but is not induced by a Möbius category), can be realised as the homotopy cardinality of a Möbius decomposition space U of all Möbius intervals, and that in a certain sense U is universal for Möbius decomposition spaces and CULF functors.