Chern classes of integral and rational representations of discrete groups (Q2266479)

The author considers integral representations of infinite discrete groups, and shows that the optimal bound on the orders of their Chern classes is twice that of the bound required for finite groups. From the point of view of Galois invariance the extra factor 2 arises because of convergence problems with the 2-adic logarithm. The central result is that \(H^4(\mathrm{SL}(\mathbb{Z}),\mathbb{Z})\) is a cyclic group of order 24, generated by the second Chern class of the inclusion representation, the proof of which depends on the fact that \(K_3\mathbb{Z}\) is cyclic of order 48. It is than easy to see that \(c_{4k+2}\) has order \(2E_{4k+2}\), where \(E_{4k+2}\) is the bound for rational representations of finite groups. The classes \(c_{4k}\) appear to behave differently; the reviewer believes that they have order \(E_{4k}\), corresponding to the fact that the image of the \(J\)-homomorphism splits off as a direct summand from \(K_{4k+1}\mathbb{Z}\) (2- torsion included). The paper concludes with some remarks on representations of congruence subgroups.