The cohomology of the sporadic group \(J_2\) over \(\mathbb{F}_{3}\) (Q901397)

The computation of the cohomology ring of sporadic finite simple groups is a difficult problem and only partial answers are known. An important sporadic simple group is the second Hall-Janko group \(J_2\). Although, \(H^*(J_2; \mathbb{F}_3)\) has been determined using computers by \textit{S. King} [``Modular cohomology ring of \(J_2\) over \(\mathbb{F}_3\)'', \url{http://users.minet.uni-jena.de/~king/cohomology/nonprimepower/J2mod3.html}], it is desirable to have a computer-free proof, and the paper under review does this job. It is known that \(J_2\) has a Sylow 3-subgroup which is isomorphic to \(3_{+}^{1+2}\). The authors give a computer-free description of the cohomology ring \(H^*(J_2; \mathbb{F}_3)\) as a subring of \(H^*(3_{+}^{1+2}; \mathbb{F}_3)\) and also give a complete presentation of \(H^*(J_2; \mathbb{F}_3)\). The center \(Z(3_{+}^{1+2}) \cong C_3\) is a strongly closed 3-subgroup of \(3_{+}^{1+2}\) and gives the following central extension \[ 1 \to C_3 \to 3_{+}^{1+2} \to C_3 \times C_3 \to 1. \] The group \(Out_{J_2}(3_{+}^{1+2}) \cong C_8\) acts on each page of the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence \(E_*\) of the above central extension. Taking invariants gives rise to another spectral sequence \(E_*^{C_8}\) which collapse as \(E_6^{C_8} = E_{\infty}^{C_8}\). This leads the authors to determine the ring \(H^*(J_2; \mathbb{F}_3)= H^*(3_{+}^{1+2}; \mathbb{F}_3)^{C_8}\). The novelty of this approach is that the spectral sequence applies on the weak hypothesis of the existence of a strongly closed \(3\)-subgroup.