Chromatic characteristic classes in ordinary group cohomology (Q1869162)

Let \(p\) be a prime, let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic equal to \(p\), and let \({\mathbb F}_p\) be the prime field. Let \(\text{var}(R)\) for an \({\mathbb F}_p\)-algebra \(R\) denote the variety of algebra homomorphisms from \(R\) to \(k\), topologized with the Zariski topology. Moreover let \(H\) denote cohomology with coefficients in \({\mathbb F}_p\). In [Ann. Math. (2) 94, 549-572, 573-602 (1971; Zbl 0247.57013)], \textit{D. Quillen} showed the celebrated result that \(var(H(BG))\) for a finite group \(G\) is homeomorphic to the colimit\break \(\text{colim}_{A} \text{var}(H(BV))\) where \(A(1)\) is the category whose objects are the elementary abelian \(p\)-subgroups \(V\subset G\) and whose set of morphisms is generated by inclusions and conjugations. \textit{D. Green} and \textit{I. Leary} [Comment. Math. Helv. 73, 406-426 (1998; Zbl 0916.20038)] obtained a similar statement for the Chern ring \(\text{Ch}(G)\) which is the subring of \(H(BG)\) generated by the mod-\(p\) Chern classes of irreducible representations of \(G\). They showed that \(\text{var(Ch}(G))\) can be identified with the colimit \(\text{colim}_{A(1)} \text{var}(H(BV))\) where \(A(1)\) is the category whose objects are the elementary abelian \(p\)-subgroups and whose morphisms are the homomorphisms \(f:V \to W\) which preserve the characters of \(G\) in the sense that \(f^*\text{Res}_V(\chi)= \text{Res}_W(\chi)\) for all characters \(\chi\) of \(G\). In the paper under review the authors put the two statements into a broader context. Given any representable generalized cohomology theory \(E\) with coefficients concentrated in even degrees they define the \(E\)-Chern ring \(\text{Ch}_E(G) \subset H(BG)\): by definition it is the subring generated by the pullbacks of the mod-\(p\)-cohomology classes of the infinite loop spaces \(E_{2r}\) representing the functors \(E^{2r}\) for integers \(r\). They then show that for any Landweber exact cohomology theory \(E\) as above there is a category \(A_E\) consisting of homomorphisms between elementary abelian \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\) so that \(\text{var(Ch}_E(G)) \cong \text{colim}_{A_E} \text{var}(H(BV))\). In case \(E=K\) is complex \(K\)-theory one gets \(\text{Ch}_K(G) = \text{Ch}(G)\) and \(A_K=A(1)\); in case \(E=H\) one gets \(\text{Ch}_H(G) = H(BG)\) and \(A_H=A\). The authors then relate this result to the concept of chromatic filtration in stable homotopy theory. More precisely, they consider the cases where \(E= \widehat{E(n)}\) is one of the completed Johnson-Wilson cohomology theories and thereby obtain a natural filtration \(\text{Ch}_{\widehat{E(1)}}(G) \subset \text{Ch}_{\widehat{E(2)}}(G) \subset \text{Ch}_{\widehat{E(3)}}(G) \subset \dots \subset H(BG)\). The corresponding categories \(A(n):=A_{\widehat{E(n)}}\) are described explicitly, and the authors give an interpretation of the categories \(A(n)\) in terms of the generalized character theory due to \textit{M. J. Hopkins, N. J. Kuhn} and \textit{D. C. Ravenel} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 13, 553-594 (2000; Zbl 1007.55004)]. The categories \(A(n)\) in fact already appeared in [\textit{D. Green} and \textit{I. Leary}, loc. cit.] where Green and Leary proved that \(\text{colim}_{A(n)} \text{var}(H(BV)) \cong \text{var}(R_n)\) for some subring \(R_n \subset H(BG)\). The present paper essentially arose from trying to explicitly identify the ring \(R_n\).