Real topological Hochschild homology and the Segal conjecture (Q2037617)

The authors give a new proof Lin's Theorem [\textit{W. H. Lin} et al., Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 87, 459--469 (1980; Zbl 0462.55007)] and thereby of the Segal conjecture for the cyclic group of order two. To outline their approach, let \(a \colon S^{-\sigma} \to S^0\) be the adjoint of the inclusion of the fixed points into the sign representation of \(C_2\). One formulation of Lin's Theorem is that the natural map \(S \to S^{\wedge}_a\) into the \(a\)-completion of the sphere spectrum is an equivalence after \(2\)-completion. Let \(NX = N_{e}^{C_2}X\) be the Hill-Hopkins-Ravenel norm of an ordinary spectrum \(X\). Then Lin's Theorem is implied by the stronger statement that the natural map \(NX \to (NX)^{\wedge}_a\) is an equivalence after \(2\)-completion for every bounded below spectrum \(X\). \textit{T. Nikolaus} and \textit{P. Scholze} [Acta Math. 221, No. 2, 203--409 (2018; Zbl 1457.19007)] have shown that the latter statement in turn follows from the special case where \(X = \mathbb F_2\), the Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum of \(\mathbb F_2\). To analyze the map \(N\mathbb F_2 \to (N\mathbb F_2)^{\wedge}_a\), the authors consider the descent spectral sequence for the \(C_2\)-equivariant norm map \(N\mathbb F_2 \to \underline{\mathbb F_2}\) to the \(C_2\)-equivariant Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum of the constant Mackey functor and use it to obtain information about the equivariant homotopy groups of \((N\mathbb F_2)^{\wedge}_a\). Its \(E_2\)-terms can be expressed as completed \(\mathrm{Ext}\)-groups over Hopf algebras of the form \(\mathbb F_2[x]\) over the virtual representation ring \(\mathrm{RO}(C_2)\). This identification uses the computation of a Hopf algebroid associated with the real topological Hochschild homology of \(\underline{\mathbb F_2}\), a spectrum whose equivariant homotopy groups have been computed by \textit{E. Dotto} et al. [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 23, No. 1, 63--152 (2021; Zbl 1473.16005)]. The spectral sequence allows the authors to determine \(\pi_{p+q\sigma}(N\mathbb F_2)^{\wedge}_a\) for integers \(p,q\) with \(p+q<0\), which is the critical input for establishing the equivalence \(N\mathbb F_2 \to (N\mathbb F_2)^{\wedge}_a\). The paper ends with a discussion of other recent work related to \((N\mathbb F_2)^{C_2}\) and possible generalizations or applications of the current work.