Stable cohomology of compact homogeneous spaces (Q2518035)

In the paper under review, the author introduces the notion of stable cohomology of a manifold. Let \(\pi: M'\to M\) be a finite covering of a manifold \(M\). This covering induces a homomorphism \(\pi^*:H^*(M; A) \to H^*(M'; A)\) of cohomology groups, where \(A\) is any Abelian coefficient group. The groups \(H^*(M'; A)\) corresponding to all possible finite coverings, together with the induced homomorphisms form a direct system of Abelian groups. The stable cohomology group of \(M\) is defined as \(H_{\text{st}}^*(M; A)= \varinjlim H^*(M'; A)\). The definition holds for more general topological spaces. It is a useful invariant of a space considered up to finite coverings and is easy to comprehend for weakly solvable compact homogeneous spaces. Using his previous work, the author obtains several interesting results regarding stable cohomology of compact homogeneous spaces. For instance, he obtains \(H_{\text{st}}^2(X;\mathbb{Z})\) to be torsion-free for a finite complex \(X\). As an example of computation of stable cohomology, in Proposition 2, the possible stable rational cohomology algebra of a compact homogeneous 3-space is determined in terms of rational cohomology algebra of some familiar homogeneous spaces. As an interesting application, in Theorem 2, the diffeomorphism types of a compact weakly solvable homogeneous space whose base has dimension at most 3 is completely determined. The author also states several conjectures about stable cohomology related to various areas of mathematics.