On a conjecture of Quillen at the prime 3 (Q1818620)

Let \(\ell\) be a prime number and let \(A\) be the ring of \(S\)-integers in a number field that contains a primitive \(\ell\)-th root of unity. Assume also that \(\ell\) is a unit in \(A\). Choose an imbedding of \(A\) in the field of complex numbers \(\mathbb{C}\). Then \(H^*(BGL_n(A), \mathbb{F}_\ell)\) becomes a module over the ring \(H^*(BGL_n (\mathbb{C}_{\text{top}}),\mathbb{F}_\ell)\), where \(GL_n (\mathbb{C}_{\text{top}})\) is the topological linear group. The conjecture of Quillen in the title is that this module is in fact a free module. The main result is that, for \(\ell=3\) and \(A=\mathbb{Z} [{1\over 3},\root 3\of{1}]\), the conjecture holds for \(n=2\) but is false for \(n\geq 27\). The argument requires an explicit computation of \(H^*(BGL_2(A), \mathbb{F}_3)\) in terms of polynomial and exterior algebras. A consequence is that \(H^*(BGL_n(A), \mathbb{F}_3)\) cannot be detected on diagonal matrices for \(n\geq 27\), and so the conjecture fails.