Simultaneous Kummer congruences and \({\mathbb {E}}_\infty \)-orientations of KO and tmf (Q2633129)

The spectrum of topological modular forms \(\mathrm{tmf}\) admits an \(E_{\infty}\) orientation \(\mathrm{MString} \to \mathrm{tmf}\) inducing the Witten genus on homotopy groups. This result appears in unpublished work by Ando-Hopkins-Rezk and was first announced by \textit{M. J. Hopkins} [in: Proceedings of the international congress of mathematicians, ICM 2002, Beijing, China, August 20--28, 2002. Vol. I: Plenary lectures and ceremonies. Beijing: Higher Education Press; Singapore: World Scientific/distributor. 291--317 (2002; Zbl 1031.55007)]. Analogously but simpler, the Atiyah-Bott-Shapiro orientation of the real \(K\)-theory spectrum \(KO\) admits a refinement to an \(E_{\infty}\) map \(\mathrm{MSpin} \to KO\) [\textit{M. Joachim}, Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 315, 87--114 (2004; Zbl 1070.19007)]. The paper under review provides an explicit description of sets of homotopy classes of \(E_{\infty}\) orientations of this kind. Ando-Hopkins-Rezk already identified these \(E_{\infty}\) orientations with solutions to an arithmetic problem. Building on this, the authors of the present paper for example establish bijections between the sets of homotopy classes of \(E_{\infty}\) maps from \(\mathrm{MSpin}\) or \(\mathrm{MString}\) to \(KO\) and the set \(\mathbb Z^{\mathbb N_0}\). They also describe the image of a certain characteristic map from the set of homotopy classes of \(E_{\infty}\) maps from \(\mathrm{MString}\) to \(\mathrm{tmf}\) and study the relation between \(E_{\infty}\)-String orientations of \(\mathrm{tmf}\) and \(KO\). The key ingredient is an analysis of integer sequences satisfying certain generalized Kummer congruences.