Graded character rings of finite groups (Q2292853)

When $K$ is a $\lambda$-ring, one can consider the $\Gamma$-filtration on $K$ defined by Grothendieck, and the associated graded ring $gr K$. Such constructions were instrumental in Grothendieck's reformulation of the Riemann-Roch theorem. In this paper, the author considers the example $K = R(G)$, the ring of characters of a finite group $G$. In this case $gr K \otimes\mathbb{Q}$ is zero in positive degrees, so to get interesting results one must refrain from tensoring with the rational field. To the reviewer's knowledge, all previous papers on the subject were about $gr K \otimes \mathbb{Q}$, not $gr K$ itself. The author presents various techniques, and obtains a variety of complete calculations: for dihedral groups, for the quaternion group of order 8, and for various abelian groups. The theory appears surprisingly complicated. For example, it emerges that there is no obvious ``Künneth formula'' for computing the graded ring of $G \times H$ from those of $G$ and $H$.