On the vanishing of the Lannes-Zarati homomorphism (Q2445193)

One would like to understand the stable homotopy groups of spheres \(\pi_*^S(S^0) \cong \pi_*(Q_0 S^0)\), where \(Q_0 S^0\) denotes the basepoint component of the infinite loop space \(Q S^0 = \mathrm{colim}_n \Omega^n S^n\). The conjecture on spherical classes states that the image of the Hurewicz homomorphism \(\pi_*(Q_0 S^0) \to H_*(Q_0 S^0; \mathbb{F}_2)\) consists of Hopf invariant one classes and Kervaire invariant one classes. There is an algebraic analogue of this conjecture. Consider the Dickson algebra \(D_s := \mathbb{F}_2[x_1, \ldots, x_s]^{GL_s}\), the algebra of \(GL_s\)-invariants in the polynomial algebra \(\mathbb{F}_2[x_1, \ldots, x_s] \cong H^*(B(\mathbb{Z}/2)^s;\mathbb{F}_2)\). In [\textit{J. Lannes} and \textit{S. Zarati}, Math. Z. 194, 25--59 (1987; Zbl 0627.55014)], Lannes and Zarati constructed homomorphisms \[ \varphi_s : \mathrm{Ext}_{\mathcal{A}}^{s,s+d}(\mathbb{F}_2, \mathbb{F}_2) \to (\mathbb{F}_2 \otimes_{\mathcal{A}} D_s)^*_d \] which, as \(s\) varies, form an associated graded of the Hurewicz homomorphism. Here, \(\mathcal{A}\) denotes the mod \(2\) Steenrod algebra, and \(d\) is the stem. The maps \(\varphi_1\) and \(\varphi_2\) are known to be non-zero, from the work of Adams and Browder. The conjecture is that \(\varphi_s\) is zero for \(s \geq 3\) in all positive stems. The cases \(s=3\) and \(s=4\) were proved by the first author in previous work. The paper under review establishes the case \(s=5\) of the conjecture. The proof relies on Singer's work on the lambda algebra [\textit{W. M. Singer}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 280, 673--693 (1983; Zbl 0533.55013)], the computation of the indecomposables of \(\mathrm{Ext}_{\mathcal{A}}^{5,*}(\mathbb{F}_2, \mathbb{F}_2)\) by \textit{T.-W. Chen} [Topology Appl. 158, No. 5, 660--689 (2011; Zbl 1216.55005)], and the fact that \(\varphi_s\) vanishes on decomposable elements, proved by the first author and Peterson [\textit{N. Hu'ng} and \textit{F.P. Peterson}, Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 124, No. 2, 253--264 (1998; Zbl 0906.55013)].