Discrete approximations for complex Kac-Moody groups

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Abstract: We construct a map from the classifying space of a discrete Kac-Moody group over the algebraic closure of the field with p elements to the classifying space of a complex topological Kac-Moody group and prove that it is a homology equivalence at primes q different from p. This generalises a classical result of Quillen-Friedlander-Mislin for Lie groups. As an application, we construct unstable Adams operations for general Kac-Moody groups compatible with the Frobenius homomorphism. In contrast to the Lie case, the homotopy fixed points of these unstable Adams operations cannot be realized at q as the classifying spaces of Kac-Moody groups over finite fields. Our results rely on new integral homology decompositions for certain infinite dimensional unipotent subgroups of discrete Kac-Moody groups.


Cohomological approximations for Lie groups by related discrete groups were developed by Quillen, Milnor, Friedlander and Mislin. In the paper under review, the author generalizes these results to the case of complex Kac-Moody groups. The main theorem states that if \(K\) is a topological complex Kac-Moody group and \(K(\bar {\mathbb F}_p)\) is the value of the corresponding discrete Kac-Moody group functor, then there exists a map \(BK(\bar{\mathbb F}_p) \to BK\) that is an isomorphism on homology with \(\mathbb F_q\) coefficients for any \(q\neq p\). This theorem is proved by extending Friedlander and Mislin's maps between the classifying spaces of appropriate reductive subgroups of discrete and topological Kac-Moody groups to a map between the full classifying spaces of Kac-Moody groups. This extension uses a new homology decomposition of a discrete Kac-Moody group over a field away from the ambient characteristic. As an application of the main theorem, the author constructs unstable Adams operations for Kac-Moody groups. Let \(K\) be a topological Kac-Moody group over \(\mathbb C\) with Weyl group \(W\). Then the Frobenius map induces \(p\)th \(q\)-local unstable Adams operations \(\psi: BK^{\wedge}_q \to BK^{\wedge}_q\) for any prime \(q\neq p\). Moreover, if there is no element of order \(p\) in \(W\), then these local unstable Adams operations can be assembled into a global unstable Adams operation \(\psi: BK \to BK\).



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