The uniqueness of homotopy associative, homotopy commutative multiplications on certain \(H\)-spaces (Q2451993)

In the homotopy category localised at an odd prime \(p\) let \(B\) be an \(H\)-space, and suppose that \(B\) is in a sufficiently strong sense a retract of \(\Omega\Sigma A\) for some CW complex \(A\). The author shows that if \(A\) has at most \(p-2\) cells and if all of these cells are of odd dimension then \(B\) can have at most one homotopy associative homotopy commutative multiplication. It is known that there always is such a multiplication in the case that \(A\) has at most \(p-3\) cells. For example, if \(p>2n\) then the special unitary group \(SU(n)\) has a unique homotopy associative homotopy commutative multiplication, namely its loop multiplication. The main application says that an odd-dimensional sphere localised at a prime \(p\geq 5\) has a unique homotopy associative homotopy commutative multiplication.