Homotopy exponents of Harper's spaces (Q1766209)

In [\textit{J. R. Harper}, H-spaces with torsion, Mem. Am. Soc. 223, 72 p. (1979; Zbl 0421.55006)], the author constructed a rank two finite mod-\(p\) H-space denoted by \(K_p\), where \(p\) is a prime integer. In the paper under review, the author shows that: For any odd prime \(p\), the exponent of Harper's H-space, \(\exp(K_p)\) is equal to \(p^{p^2 + p}\). D. M. Davis essentially proves the formula as a lower bound in [\textit{D. M. Davis}, Homotopy theory and its applications (Cocoyoc, 1993), 81--92, Contemp. Math. 188, Am. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, (1995; Zbl 0848.55006)]. The author proves that the same expression is an upper bound as well. This result implies: \(\exp_3(F_4)=\exp_3(E_6)=3^{12}\) where \(F_4\) and \(E_6\) are the Lie Groups commonly denoted by these symbols and the exponent is taken at the prime \(3\). The author shows that the \(p\)-th stage of the James construction \(J_p(S^{2n})\) satisfies \(\exp(J_{p-1}(S^{2n})) \leq p^{np}\) for \(p\) an odd prime. This leads to \(\exp_3(W)\) where \(W\) is the Cayley Projective plane. The method of finding upper bounds for the exponent is to consider a fibration, as the exponent of the total space is less than or equal to the product of the exponents of the base and fibre.