We will prove that $A$ preserves cofibrations and trivial cofibrations. We only have to check this fact for the generating (trivial) cofibrations in $\sSet$. Note that the contravariance of $A$ means that a (trivial) cofibrations should be sent to a (trivial) fibration.
\begin{lemma}
$A(i) : A(\Delta[n])\to A(\del\Delta[n])$ is surjective.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
Let $\phi\in A(\del\Delta[n])$ be an element of degree $k$, hence it is a map $\del\Delta[n]\to\Apl^k$. We want to extend this to the whole simplex. By the fact that $\Apl^k$ is Kan and contractible we can find a lift $\overline{\phi}$ in the following diagram showing the surjectivity.
\cimage[scale=0.5]{Extend_Boundary_Form}
\end{proof}
\begin{lemma}
$A(j) : A(\Delta[n])\to A(\Lambda^n_k)$ is surjective and a quasi isomorphism.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
As above we get surjectivity from the Kan condition. To prove that $A(j)$ is a quasi isomorphism we pass to the singular cochain complex and use that $C^\ast(j) : C^\ast(\Delta[n])\we C^\ast(\Lambda^n_k)$ is a quasi isomorphism. Consider the following diagram and conclude that $A(j)$ is surjective and a quasi isomorphism.
\cimage[scale=0.5]{A_Preserves_WCof}
\end{proof}
Since $A$ is a left adjoint, it preserves all colimits and by functoriality it preserves retracts. From this we can conclude the following corollary.
\begin{corollary}
$A$ preserves all cofibrations and all trivial cofibrations and hence is a left Quillen functor.
\end{corollary}
\begin{corollary}
$A$ and $K$ induce an adjunction on the homotopy categories:
The induced adjunction in the previous corollary is given by $LA(X)= A(X)$ for $X \in\sSet$ (note that every simplicial set is already cofibrant) and $RK(Y)= K(Y^{cof})$ for $Y \in\CDGA$. By the use of minimal models, and in particular the functor $M$. We get the following adjunction between $1$-connected objects:
\Corollary{minimal-model-adjunction}{
There is an adjunction:
$$ M : \Ho(\sSet_1)\leftadj\opCat{\Ho(\text{Minimal models}^1)} : RK, $$
where $M$ is given by $M(X)= M(A(X))$ and $RK$ is given by $RK(Y)= K(Y)$ (because minimal models are always cofibrant).
We are after an equivalence of homotopy categories, so it is natural to ask what the homotopy groups of $K(A)$ are for a cdga $A$. In order to do so, we will define homotopy groups of cdga's directly and compare the two notions.
Recall that an augmented cdga is a cdga $A$ with an algebra map $A \tot{\counit}\k$ such that $\counit\unit=\id$.
\Definition{cdga-homotopy-groups}{
Define the \Def{augmentation ideal} of $A$ as $\overline{A}=\ker\counit$. Define the \Def{cochain complex of indecomposables} of $A$ as $QA =\overline{A}/\overline{A}\cdot\overline{A}$.
Now define the \Def{homotopy groups of a cdga}$A$ as
$$\pi^i(A)= H^i(QA). $$
}
Note that for a free cdga $\Lambda C$ there is a natural augmentation and the chain complexes of indecomposables $Q \Lambda C$ is naturally isomorphic to $C$. Consider the augmented cdga $V(n)= D(n)\oplus\k$, with trivial multiplication and where the term $\k$ is used for the unit and augmentation. There is a weak equivalence $A(n)\to V(n)$ (recall \DefinitionRef{minimal-model-sphere}).
We get a particularly nice result for minimal cdga's, because the functor $Q$ is the left inverse of the functor $\Lambda$ and the differential is decomposable.
\Corollary{minimal-cdga-homotopy-groups}{
For a minimal cdga $X =\Lambda V$ we get
$$\pi_n(KX)={V^n}^\ast. $$
}
\Corollary{minimal-cdga-EM-space}{
For a cdga with one generator $X =\Lambda(v)$ with $d v =0$ and $\deg{v}= n$. We conclude that $KX$ is a $K(\k^\ast, n)$-space.
For the equivalence of rational spaces and cdga's we need that the unit and counit of the adjunction in \CorollaryRef{minimal-model-adjunction} are in fact weak equivalences for rational spaces. More formally: for any (automatically cofibrant) $X \in\sSet$ and any minimal model $A \in\CDGA$, both rational, $1$-connected and of finite type, the following two natural maps are weak equivalences:
\begin{align*}
X &\to K(M(X)) \\
A &\to M(K(A))
\end{align*}
where the first of the two maps is given by the composition $X \to K(A(X))\tot{K(m_X)} K(M(X))$,
and the second map is obtained by the map $A \to A(K(A))$ and using the bijection from \LemmaRef{minimal-model-bijection}: $[A, A(K(A))]\iso[A, M(K(A))]$. By the 2-ouy-of-3 property the map $A \to M(K(A))$ is a weak equivalence if and only if the ordinary unit $A \to A(K(A))$ is a weak equivalence.
\Lemma{}{
(Base case) Let $A =(\Lambda(v), 0)$ be a minimal model with one generator of degree $\deg{v}= n \geq1$. Then $A \we A(K(A))$.
}
\Proof{
By \CorollaryRef{minimal-cdga-EM-space} we know that $K(A)$ is an Eilenberg-MacLane space of type $K(\Q^\ast, n)$. The cohomology of an Eilenberg-Maclane space with coefficients in $\Q$ is known:
$$ H^\ast(K(\Q^\ast, n); \Q)=\Q[x], $$
that is, the free commutative graded algebra with one generator $x$. This can be calculated, for example, with spectral sequences \cite{griffiths}.
Now choose a cycle $z \in A(K(\Q^\ast, n))$ representing the class $x$ and define a map $A \to A(K(A))$ by sending the generator $v$ to $z$. This induces an isomorphism on cohomology. So $A$ is the minimal model for $A(K(A))$.
}
\Lemma{}{
(Induction step) Let $A$ be a cofibrant, connected algebra. Let $B$ be the pushout in the following square, where $m \geq1$:
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
S(m+1) \arcof[d]\ar[r]\xypo& A \arcof[d]\\
T(m) \ar[r]& B
}
\end{displaymath}
Then if $A \to A(K(A))$ is a weak equivalence, so is $B \to A(K(B))$
}
\Proof{
Applying $K$ to the above diagram gives a pullback diagram of simplicial sets, where the induced vertical maps are fibrations (since $K$ is right Quillen). In other words, the induced square is a homotopy pullback.
Applying $A$ again gives the following cube of cdga's:
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix @=9pt{
S(m+1) \arcof[dd]\ar[rr]\arwe[rd]\xypo&& A \arcof'[d][dd] \arwe[rd]&\\
& A(K(S(m+1))) \ar[dd]\ar[rr]&& A(K(A)) \ar[dd]\\
T(m) \ar'[r][rr] \arwe[rd]&& B \ar[rd]&\\
& A(K(T(m))) \ar[rr]&& A(K(B))
}
\end{displaymath}
Note that we have a weak equivalence in the top left corner, by the base case ($S(m+1)=(\Lambda(v), 0)$). The weak equivalence in the top right is by assumption. Finally the bottom left map is a weak equivalence because both cdga's are acylcic.
To conclude that $B \to A(K(B))$ is a weak equivalence, we wish to prove that the front face of the cube is a homotopy pushout, as the back face clearly is one. This is a consequence of the Eilenberg-Moore spectral sequence \cite{mccleary}.