Unstable \(K\)-cohomology algebra is a filtered \(\lambda\)-ring (Q1864297)

If \(E^*(\cdot)\) is a generalized cohomology theory then the collection of unstable cohomology operations for \(E\) (i.e., the natural transformations of \(E^*(\cdot)\) with itself) give \(E^*(X)\) a rich algebraic structure. For a very general class of cohomology theories the algebraic structures involved have been described by \textit{J. M. Boardman, D. C. Johnson}, and \textit{W. S. Wilson} [Handbook of Algebraic Topology (I.M.James, ed.) North-Holland, Amsterdam, 585-686 (1995; Zbl 0876.55016)] as a \(U\)-coalgebra where \(U\) is a comonad on the category of complete filtered Hausdorff \(E^*\) coalgebras constructed using the \(\Omega\)-spectrum of \(E\). For the special case of complex \(K\)-theory an earlier method was developed for studying unstable cohomology operations using the idea of a \(\lambda\)-ring. The main theorem of the paper under review is that these two approaches are almost equivalent: there is a canonical bijection between a slight modification of the set of unstable \(K\)-theory algebra structures on a commutative filtered ring \(R\) (complete and Hausdorff) with respect to the filtration and the set of filtered \(\lambda\) ring structures on \(R\). The slight modification is introduced to account for the periodicity of complex \(K\)-theory and involves only using the degree-\(0\) part when constructing the \(K\)-theory comonad.