Cohomology rings of multiplicative fibrations (Q1030181)

Let \(X\) be a simply connected \(H\)-space and \(K\) a simply connected generalized Eilenberg-MacLane space equipped with the product \(H\)-space structure. Let \(p\) be prime. To the \(H\)-map \(f: X\to K\) is associated the homomorphism of graded Hopf algebras \(H_*(f): H_*(X;\mathbb{Z}/p)\to H_*(K;\mathbb{Z}/p)\). Then \(\text{im\,}H_*(f)\) is a (normal) sub-Hopf algebra of the commutative Hopf algebra \(H_*(K;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) and thus the quotient \(H_*(K; \mathbb{Z}/p)//\text{im\,} H_*(f)\) is a graded Hopf algebra. The sub-Hopf graded Hopf algebra of \(H_*(K;\mathbb{Z}/p)\) dual to this quotient is denoted \(\text{subker\,} H_*(f)\). The purpose of this paper is to compute the \(\text{mod\,}p\) cohomology of the the homotopy fiber \(\widetilde X\) of the \(H\)-map \(f\) as a graded algebra. This multiplicative structure depends on the structure of module over the Steenrod algebra of \(\text{im\,}H_*(f)\) and \(\text{subker\,}H_*(f)\). Such spaces \(\widetilde X\) occur frequently in Postnikov towers and connective covers. The example of simply connected compact Lie groups \(X= E_8\) and \(E_6\) illustrates the formulae stated in the main theorem of this paper.