Chern approximations for generalised group cohomology (Q5956077)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and \(E\) a suitable generalized cohomology theory. Here `suitable' means that \(E\) is \(p\)-local, concentrated in even dimensions and 2-periodic, so that complex K-theory can be thought of as a model. It is possible to define and study a ring \(C(E,G)\) that is the best-possible approximation to \(E^0BG\) that can be built using knowledge of the complex representation ring of \(G\). The natural image of \(C(E,G)\) in \(E^0BG\) under the `flat bundle map' is indeed the subring generated by all Chern classes of complex representations. (`Suitable' implies that the theory \(E^*\) is complex-oriented.) After tensoring with the rational numbers \(\mathbb{Q}\), good information about relations in the image of \(C(E,G)\) is obtained in terms of generalized characters taking values in \(\mathbb{Z}[(\mathbb{Q}_p/ \mathbb{Z}_p)^n]\), \(n\) being the height of the (reduced) formal group law on \(E^0\). Some cases are studied in considerable detail, for which \(C(E,G)\to E^0BG\) is an isomorphism. With its scheme-theoretic formalism the paper is not easy to read, but it represents a valuable contribution to the literature and is clearly capable of considerable generalization.