A degree formula for equivariant cohomology rings (Q6042780)

In \textit{R. Lynn}'s work (see [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 366, No. 1, 309--339 (2014; Zbl 1278.55015)]), an additivity formula (which we will call ``geometric'') is presented to calculate the degree of the mod.\(p\) equivariant cohomology of an action of a compact Lie group on a manifold. On the other hand, in commutative algebra, we have a different additivity formula (which we will call ``algebraic'') to calculate the degree of a graded \(S\)-module (see [\textit{J. A. Maiorana}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 223, 253--266 (1976; Zbl 0341.55006)]). Lynn concludes her paper by asking how to relate the two previous formulas. This paper answers this question and highlights the link between the ``geometric'' and ``algebraic'' additivity formulas. For this, the authors establish the following additivity formula (for more precision see the text): \[ \deg(H^{*}_{G}X)=\sum_{[A, c] \in Q'_{\max}(G, X)}\frac{1}{\mid W_{G}(A, c) \mid}\deg(H^{*}_{C_{G}(A, c)}(c)) \] This formula, which generalizes Lynn's result, presents a way to compute the degree of the mod.\(p\) equivariant cohomology, \(H^{*}_{G}X\), of an action of a compact Lie group \(G\) on a space \(X\), from elementary abelian \(p\)-subgroups \(A\) of \(G\) and fixed point sets \(X^{A}\). This reduces the computation of the degree of \(H^{*}_{G}X\) for an arbitrary \(G\) to calculations to hopefully simpler type of groups acting on space in a simple way. In this paper, \textit{D. Quillen}'s work (see [Ann. Math. (2) 94, 549--572, 573--602 (1971; Zbl 0247.57013)]) and \textit{J. Duflot}'s results (see [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 284, 91--105 (1984; Zbl 0565.55008)]) are used.