On the mod-\( \ell\) homology of the classifying space for commutativity (Q2175883)

The classifying space for commutativity \(B_{\text{com}}G\) of a topological group \(G\), which is denoted in this article by \(B(\mathbb{Z},G)\), is the geometric realization of a simplicial space which in degree \(n\) is given by the space of homomorphisms from \(\mathbb{Z}^n\) to \(G\). This article focuses on the mod-\(p\) homotopy of \(B(\mathbb{Z},G)\) when \(G\) is a compact Lie group or the group of points of a Chevalley group, and \(p\) is a prime. There are analogous spaces \(B(\mathbb{Z}/n,G)\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z} _p^{\wedge},G)\), where \(\mathbb{Z}\) is replaced in the simplicial space by \(\mathbb{Z}/n\) and \(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\wedge}\), respectively. In the case of \(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\wedge}\) one must consider continuous homomorphisms. The spaces \(B(\mathbb{Z},G)\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z}/n,G)\) fit into a more general setup. A cosimplicial group \(\tau^{\bullet}\) which is finitely generated in each degree defines a simplicial space \(\text{Hom}(\tau^{\bullet},G)\) and its geometric realization is denoted by \(B(\tau,G)\). When \(G\) is a compact Lie group, the space \(B(\tau,G)\) admits a natural decomposition as a homotopy colimit, which applies in particular to \(B(\mathbb{Z},G)\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z}/n,G)\). Together with the fact that \(B(\mathbb{Z} _p^{\wedge},G)\) is the colimit of the spaces \(B(\mathbb{Z}/p^k,G)\), this implies that the natural map \(B(\mathbb{Z} _p^{\wedge},G) \to B(\mathbb{Z},G)\) is a mod-\(p\) equivalence. This property holds when \(G\) is a locally finite group as well. When the group of components of the compact Lie group \(G\) is a \(p\)-group and \(\tau^{\bullet}\) is a reduced cosimplicial group which is a finite \(p\)-group in each degree, the authors show that \(B(\tau,G)\) is mod-\(p\) equivalent to the fat realization of \(\text{Map}_*(B\tau^{\bullet},BG _p^{\wedge})\). Therefore if \(G\) and \(H\) are compact Lie groups with \(p\)-groups as their groups of components, a homotopy equivalence between \(BG _p^{\wedge}\) and \(BH _p^{\wedge}\) will induce a homotopy equivalence between \(B(\tau,G) _p^{\wedge}\) and \(B(\tau,H) _p^{\wedge}\). This holds in particular for \(B(\mathbb{Z}/p^k,G)\) and using the mod-\(p\) equivalence between \(B(\mathbb{Z} _p^{\wedge},G)\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z},G)\), one obtains that \(B(\mathbb{Z},G) _p^{\wedge}\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z},H) _p^{\wedge}\) are homotopy equivalent. With a suitable definition, this holds for \(p\)-compact groups as well. A direct analogue of the Milnor-Friedlander conjecture does not hold for these spaces. A counterexample is given by \(B(\mathbb{Z},GL_2(\mathbb{C}))\) and \(B(\mathbb{Z},GL_2(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_p))\), which are not mod-\(q\) equivalent for any prime \(q\) different from \(p\). However, if \(G\) is a Chevalley group and \(q \neq p\), the Borel constructions of \( B(\mathbb{Z},G(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_p))\) and \( B(\mathbb{Z},G(\mathbb{C}))\) are mod-\(q\) equivalent. The proof follows a similar line of argument as above, but in this case using the fact that the fat realization of \(\text{Map}(B\tau^{\bullet},BK _p^{\wedge})\) is mod-\(q\) equivalent to the Borel construction of \(B(\tau^{\bullet},K)\) when \(K\) is a compact Lie group and \(\tau^{\bullet}\) is a cosimplicial group which is a finite \(q\)-group in each degree.