\(K(n)\)-local duality for finite groups and groupoids (Q1568687)

The paper deals with analogies between Morava K-theory and representation theory of finite groups. The author writes: ``The starting point of the investigations described here was our discovery of a natural inner product on the ring \(K(n)^*BG\), the \(n\)th Morava K-theory of the classifying space of a finite group \(G\). If \(n= 1\) and \(G\) is a \(p\)-group then \(K(1)^*BG\) is essentially the same as \(R(G)/p\) (where \(R(G)\) is the complex representation ring of \(G\)) and our inner product is just \((V,W)= \dim_{\mathbb{C}} (V\otimes W)^G \pmod p\). This is closely related to the classical inner product on \(R(G)\), given by \(\langle V,W\rangle= \dim_{\mathbb{C}} \Hom_G (V,W)= (V,W^*)\). For more general groups, there is still a relationship but it is not too close''. The author works with an inner product on the \(K(n)\)-localization \(L_{K(n)} \Sigma^\infty BG_+\) of the suspension spectrum of \(BG\) and then deduces consequences in Morava K-theory (and other generalized cohomology theories) by functoriality. Inner products in categories can be described in terms of Frobenius objects, i.e. commutative and associative ring objects which are simultaneously commutative and associative coring objects satisfying a suitable compatibility condition of both structures. A classical example is given by the complex representation ring of a finite group, viewed as Frobenius object in the category of finitely generated free abelian groups. The author deduces the observed analogies between Morava K-theory and representation theory from a basic structure result which states that for any finite groupoid \(G\) the spectrum \(\Sigma^\infty BG_+\) is a Frobenius object in the \(K(n)\)-localized stable homotopy category. Some further consequences for suitable generalized cohomology theories and special classes of finite groups are derived.