Dickson invariants, regularity and computation in group cohomology. (Q1425775)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and let \(k\) be a field. In this paper the author investigates the commutative algebra of the cohomology ring \(H^*(G;k)\). The author relates the concept of quasi-regular sequence of \textit{D. J. Benson} and \textit{J. F. Carlson} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 342, No. 2, 447-488 (1994; Zbl 0816.20044)] (resp. a new version of quasi-regular sequence) to the local cohomology ring \(H^*(G;k)\) (resp. to Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity). The author proves that the existence of a quasi-regular sequence in \(H^*(G;k)\) is equivalent to the fact that the Dickson invariants form a quasi-regular sequence. As a consequence, he gives a new proof of the theorem of \textit{D. Bourguiba} and \textit{S. Zarati} [Invent. Math. 128, No. 3, 589-602 (1997; Zbl 0874.55017)] for \(H^*(G;\mathbb{F}_p)\). The proof does not use the properties of the category of unstable modules over the mod \(p\) Steenrod algebra. The paper ends with some remarks on Carlson's algorithm for computing the cohomology of a finite group.