The homotopy of MString and \(MU\langle 6\rangle\) at large primes (Q1007196)

The purpose of the article under review is to compute the homotopy rings \(\pi_* MO\langle 8\rangle\) and \(\pi_* MU\langle 6\rangle\) at primes \(p\not=2,3\), where \(MO\langle 8\rangle\), respectively \(MU\langle 6\rangle\), is the Thom spectrum of the \(7\)-connected cover of \(BO\), respectively the \(5\)-connected cover of \(BU\). The Thom spectrum of the title MString is just another name (coming from string theory) for the spectrum \(MO\langle 8\rangle\). The spectra \(MO\langle 8\rangle\) and \(MU\langle 6\rangle\) are known to be homotopy equivalent at \(p\not=2,3\) to coproducts of suspensions of the Brown-Peterson spectrum \(BP\). This identity gives the \(BP_*\)-module structure of \(\pi_* MO\langle 8\rangle_{(p)}\) and \(\pi_* MU\langle 6\rangle_{(p)}\) but not the ring structure. The author shows that the local rings \(\pi_* MO\langle 8\rangle_{(p)}\) and \(\pi_* MU\langle 6\rangle_{(p)}\) are quotients of polynomial \(BP_*\)-algebras by an infinite regular sequence. In the case of \(\pi_* MO\langle 8\rangle_{(p)}\), the computation involves an \(H\)-space decomposition \(BO\langle 8\rangle_{(p)}\sim BP\langle 1\rangle_{8}\times BP\langle 1\rangle_{12}\times\cdots\times BP\langle 1\rangle_{2p+2}\), a computation of \(BP_* BO\langle 8\rangle\), of \(BP_* MO\langle 8\rangle\), and an application of the Adams-Novikov spectral sequence to get \(\pi_* MO\langle 8\rangle_{(p)}\) from \(BP_* MO\langle 8\rangle\). The methods of computation are similar in the case of \(\pi_* MU\langle 6\rangle_{(p)}\).