Topics in cohomology of groups (Q1922108)

The present lecture notes are a translation of the author's book ``Rapport sur la cohomologie des groups'' (Benjamin 1966; Zbl 0171.28903). Their aim is to provide missing chapters about the cohomology of groups for the famous Artin-Tate notes on class field theory [\textit{E. Artin} and \textit{J. Tate}, Class field theory (Benjamin 1967; Zbl 0176.33504), referred to here as [AT]]. The original Benjamin notes consisted of Chapters I to IX. In the present book the author adds Chapter X: Application of Galois cohomology in algebraic geometry (from letters of Tate). This chapter is essentially a transcription of weekly letters which the author received from J. Tate during 1958-1959. Beside Chapter X the book deals with the cohomology of groups but not with local class field theory which is missing in [AT] as well. In this sense the excellent book ``Corps locaux'' (Paris 1962; Zbl 0137.02601) of \textit{J.-P. Serre} is an adequate prerequisite for reading [AT]. The present book also contains material other than that necessary for the cohomological foundation of class field theory. Chapter VII deals with ``Groups of Galois type''. These are the groups which nowadays are called ``profinite groups''. This chapter consists of an unpublished article of J. Tate. Its content is part of the book ``Cohomologie galoisienne'' [Lect. Notes Math. 5 (1973; Zbl 0259.12011)] of \textit{J.-P. Serre}, which used the unpublished article of J. Tate, too. Since both books of Serre are translated into English and easily accessible, the book at hand may have its interest mostly for readers who already have a good knowledge of cohomological algebra and who want to become familiar with the cohomology of groups. It is also highly interesting for the history of mathematics of the years 1950 to 1960.