A local method in group cohomology (Q1821203)

In this beautiful paper, a very interesting approach to the local control of the cohomology of a finite group \(G\) is presented. It has some connections with equivariant cohomology in that actions of \(G\) on a simplicial complex are considered, and the cohomology of \(G\) is obtained in terms of the cohomology of the isotropy groups. The main result is: Thm. A: Let \(G\) act simplicially on the simplicial complex \(\Delta\), suppose for each simplex \(\sigma\) the isotropy group \(G_{\sigma}\) fixes \(\sigma\) pointwise, and let \(p\) be a fixed prime. Assume that one of the following conditions holds: (a) for each \(H\in {\mathfrak C}=\{H\leq G\mid H/O_ p(H)\) is cyclic\} with \(O_ p(H)\neq 1\) the fixed point complex \(\Delta^ H\) has Euler characteristic \(\chi(\Delta^ H)=1\) or (b) for each cyclic subgroup \(H\) of order \(p\), \(\Delta^ H\) is acyclic. Then for any \({\mathbb{Z}}G\)-module \(M\) and integer \(n\), \[ (*)\quad \hat H^ n(G,M)_ p = \sum_{\sigma \in \Delta /G}(- 1)^{\dim \sigma} \hat H^ n(G_{\sigma},M)_ p. \] The equation (*) holds in the Grothendieck group of finite abelian groups with respect to direct sum decompositions and the suffix \(p\) means the \(p\)-torsion subgroup. It follows from \textit{D. Quillen}'s results [Adv. Math. 28, 101-128 (1978; Zbl 0388.55007)] that condition (b) of Thm. A is satisfied by the simplicial complexes of all \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\), all elementary abelian \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\), and the Tits building in the case of a Chevalley group, and hence they may be used to compute cohomology. (The above mentioned simplicial complexes \(\Delta(S)\) arise from the corresponding partially ordered set \(S\) i.e. the simplices of \(\Delta(S)\) are the chains in \(S\).) Of course, it may be that \(G\) itself appears on the right hand side of the cohomology formula in Thm. A. A different reduction theorem, Thm. D, is proved which takes care of that. Theorem D appears as a step in the proof of Thm. A. Thm. D. Let \({\mathfrak X}\) be a class of subgroups of \(G\) which is closed under taking conjugates and forming subgroups, and with \({\mathfrak X}\supseteq {\mathfrak C}\). Then \[ H^ n(G,M)_ p=\sum_{H\in {\mathfrak X}}(f(H)/| G:H|)H^ n(H,M)_ p \] for any integer \(n\) and \(\mathbb{Z} G\)-module \(M\), where \(f: {\mathfrak X}\to {\mathbb{Z}}\) is the function defined by the equations \[ \sum_{J\leq K\in {\mathfrak X}}f(K)=1\text{ for every } J\in {\mathfrak X}. \] The proofs of the above theorems are based mainly on results in representation theory. If \(A(G)\) denotes the Green ring of \({\mathbb{Z}}_ pG\)-modules, where \({\mathbb{Z}}_ p\) is the \(p\)-adic integers, then an alternative expression for \({\mathbb{Z}}_ p\), in \(A(G)\), is obtained in terms of certain permutation modules, and this is the main step in the proofs of Thm. A and D. This is obtained by fundamentally using \textit{S. B. Conlon}'s induction theorem [J. Algebra 10, 102-122 (1968; Zbl 0159.31401)] and a formula for idempotents in \(A(G)\) which arises from the Burnside algebra [\textit{D. Gluck}, Ill. J. Math. 25, 63-67 (1981; Zbl 0424.16007)] and [\textit{T. Yoshida}, J. Algebra 80, 90-105 (1983; Zbl 0521.20003)]. The author then investigates the connection between his approach and equivariant cohomology (Brown's and Quillen's work). Moreover, there are many explicit calculations for various specific cases. There is another paper by the author [J. Algebra 104, 351-357 (1986; Zbl 0606.20042)] where he obtains a strengthened version of Thm. A namely that the following are equivalent under the hypotheses of Thm. A: (i) (a) of Thm. A, (ii) (*) of Thm. A, (iii) In \(A(G)\), \[ {\mathbb{Z}}_ p\equiv \sum (- 1)^{\dim \sigma} {\mathbb{Z}}_ p\otimes_{{\mathbb{Z}}_ pG_{\sigma}}{\mathbb{Z}}_ pG \text{ (mod projectives).} \]