On Carlson's depth conjecture in group cohomology. (Q1407796)

In this paper a weak form of \textit{J. F. Carlson}'s conjecture on the depth of the mod-\(p\) cohomology of a \(p\)-group [Math. Z. 218, No. 3, 461-468 (1995; Zbl 0837.20062)] is established. Namely it is shown that: Theorem. Suppose that \(G\) is a \(p\)-group whose centre has \(p\)-rank \(z\). Then the following statements are equivalent: 1. The mod-\(p\) cohomology ring \(H^*(G)\) is not detected on the centralizers of its rank \(z+1\) elementary Abelian subgroups. 2. There is an associated prime \(\mathfrak p\) such that \(H^*(G)/{\mathfrak p}\) has dimension \(z\). 3. The depth of \(H^*(G)\) equals \(z\). \textit{J. Duflot} [in Comment. Math. Helv. 56, 627-637 (1981; Zbl 0493.55003)] showed that \(z\) is a lower bound for the depth. So the above theorem characterizes the cases where Duflot's lower bound is tight. The proofs use the structure of the cohomology ring as a comodule over the cohomology of the centre via the multiplication map.