The spectrum of the Chern subring (Q1266443)

Let \(p\) be a prime, \(k\) an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p\), and \(G\) a compact Lie group, e.g. a finite group. The Chern subring, \(\text{Ch}(G)\subseteq H^*(G)\), is the subalgebra of the mod-\(p\) cohomology algebra \(H^*(G)\) generated by Chern classes of (virtual) unitary representations of \(G\). In the paper, a description of the variety \(X_G'(k)\) of algebra homomorphisms from \(\text{Ch}(G)\) to \(k\) is given, analoguous to Quillen's description of the variety \(X_G(k)\) of algebra homomorphisms from \(H^*(G)\) to \(k\). When \(G\) is an elementary abelian \(p\)-group \(E\), the variety \(X_E(k)\) is the affine variety \(E\otimes k\). For general \(G\), \(X_G(k)\) is the colimit of the functor \((\;)\otimes k\) over a certain category having as objects the elementary abelian subgroups of \(G\). In the paper under review, the variety \(X_G'(k)\) is the colimit of the same functor \((\;)\otimes k\) over a category having as objects the elementary abelian subgroups of \(G\) as well but whose morphisms differ from those used for the construction of \(X_G(k)\). The authors deduce their result from a more general colimit theorem which entails a description of the corresponding varieties for suitable subrings of \(H^*(G)\) more general than just the Chern subring or the entire cohomology ring. For a finite group \(G\), another consequence of this theorem includes a description of the variety for the subring of \(\text{Ch}(G)\) generated by Chern classes of representations realizable over any subfield of \(\mathbb{C}\).