Logarithmic structures on topological \(K\)-theory spectra (Q2636587)

The author studies a graded variant of the log ring spectra of \textit{J. Rognes} [in: A. Baker (ed.) et al., New topological contexts for Galois theory and algebraic geometry. Proceedings of the workshop, Banff, Canada, March 9--14, 2008. Coventry: Geometry \& Topology Publications. Geometry and Topology Monographs 16, 401--544 (2009; Zbl 1227.14024)]. Briefly recall that a log ring spectrum is a topological analogue of the classical logarithmic structures of algebraic geometry. This concept is used as a mild way of specifying a localization. In short, the idea is that the logarithmic structure retains information which is destroyed in the actual localization. The author relies on a previous work with \textit{C. Schlichtkrull} [Adv. Math. 231, No. 3--4, 2116--2193 (2012; Zbl 1315.55007)] to define his graded version of the logarithmic structures of Rognes. The main idea is to consider a certain category of diagrams in commutative monoids which defines a model of the homotopy category of \(E_{\infty}\)-spaces over the underlying additive monoid of the sphere spectrum. The author considers a canonical graded logarithmic structure on the \(K\)-theory spectrum \(KU\) which is given by a monoid of graded units attached this object. He observes that this graded logarithmic structure can be pullbacked to the connective \(K\)-theory spectrum \(ku\). The same construction can be applied to provide the \(p\)-complete connective \(K\)-theory spectrum \(ku_p\) and the Adams summand of the \(p\)-complete \(K\)-theory \(\ell_p\) with a graded logarithmic structure. The main result of the paper is that the canonical inclusion \(\ell_p\rightarrow ku_p\) between these objects extends to a map of graded log ring spectra which is formally log étale in the graded sense.