Cyclic polytopes and the \(K\)-theory of truncated polynomial algebras (Q1365860)

The authors calculate the relative K-groups of the projection \(k[x]/(x^n)\to k\) where \(k\) is a perfect field of positive characteristics. This is a natural continuation of, and relies heavily upon their previous paper [Topology 36, No. 1, 29-101 (1997; Zbl 0866.55002)] which, among other things, covered the case \(n=2\). The pleasing result is given in terms of the big Witt vectors: the relative algebraic K-theory vanishes in even degrees, and is given by \[ K_{2m-1}(k[x]/(x^n), (t))\cong\mathbf W_{nm}(k)/V_n\mathbf W_m(k) \] in odd degrees. This is proven by calculating the topological cyclic homology which, by a result of McCarthy, agrees with K-theory when working relative to nilpotent ideals. The identification of the \(S^1\)-equivariant structure of the topological Hochschild homology turns out to be more intricate than for the case \(n=2\). The authors find a way of analyzing this using cyclic polytopes.