On the realization of unstable modules (Q1880626)

A major theme of algebraic topology is to determine which modules can be realized as the cohomology of a space. In particular, one may ask whether certain algebraic properties prevent a module of being realizable. This paper addresses the realizability question by investigating whether long gaps (i.e., consecutive degrees in which the module is 0) can occur. After carefully defining the length of a gap, a theorem is proven which can be roughly stated as saying that large gaps cannot occur in large degrees if a module, or any of its suspensions, is to be realizable. There are some hypotheses (to exclude such obvious cases as a wedge of spheres) but the theorem remains a very general one. The proof uses complicated, but elementary, arguments to reduce to the case of Adams' Hopf invariant one theorem.