Higher limits via subgroup complexes (Q1607727)

Let \(G\) be a finite group. A collection \({\mathcal C}\) is a set of subgroups in \(G\), closed under conjugation in \(G\). Denote by \(|{\mathcal C}|\) the nerve of the poset \({\mathcal C}\) and by \({\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}\) the full subcategory of the orbit category of \(G\) with objects the transitive \(G\)-sets with isotropy groups in \({\mathcal C}\). The purpose of this paper is to give a new finite model for the higher derived functors \(\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^*F= \{\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^i \}_{i\geq 1}F\) of the inverse limit when \(F\) is a contravariant functor with domain \({\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}\) and codomain the category of \(\mathbb{Z}_{(p)}\)-modules. Such functors arise in the homotopy representation theory of compact Lie groups. Theorem 1: (a) If \({\mathcal C}\) is closed under passage to \(p\)-radical over-subgroups then \(\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^* F=H_G^*(|{\mathcal C}|;{\mathcal F})\) where \({\mathcal F}\) is a \(G\)-local coefficient system on \(|{\mathcal C}|\) naturally associated to \(F\) and \({\mathcal C}\). (Here \(H_G^*(-;{\mathcal F})\) denotes the Bredon cohomology.) (b) If \(F\) is a functor concentrated on conjugates of a single subgroup \(P\) then \(\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^iF= H_G^{i-1} (\Hom_{NP/P} \text{St}_* (NP/P);F(P))\) where \(\text{St}_*(W)\) denotes the Steinberg complex of \(W\). Theorem 2: (a) Let \({\mathcal C}\) be as in Theorem 1. If for all \(P\in{\mathcal C}\), the centralizer \(CP\) acts trivially on \(F(P)\) then, for any collection \({\mathcal C}'\subset{\mathcal C}\) which contains all \(p\)-centric subgroups of \({\mathcal C}\), \(\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^*F= \lim_{{\mathbf O}_{{\mathcal C}'}}^*F= H_G^*(|{\mathcal C}'|;{\mathcal F})\) where \({\mathcal F}\) is a \(G\)-local coefficient system on \(|{\mathcal C}|\) naturally associated to \(F\) and \({\mathcal C}'\). (b) If \(F\) is a functor concentrated on conjugates of a single \(p\)-centric subgroup \(P\) then \(\lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^iF= H_G^{i-1} (\Hom_{NP/PCP} \text{St}_* (NP/PCP); F(P))\) where \(\text{St}_*(W)\) denotes the Steinberg complex of \(W\). This last result is in a certain sense equivalent to a version of Quillen's conjecture on the contractibility of the nerve of the collection of nontrivial \(p\)-subgroups. The author continues with the construction of a spectral sequence \(E_1^{i,j} \Rightarrow \lim_{{\mathbf O}_{\mathcal C}}^{i+j}F\) where the term \(E_1^{i,j}\) is explicitly defined by Theorems 1 and 2 applied to ``atomic functors''. The paper ends with applications to group cohomology and other Mackey functors and an application to \(\operatorname {mod}p\) decomposition of \(BG\).