The stable homology of congruence subgroups (Q906180)

The paper under review is one in a permanently growing list of papers by the author and several coauthors. The general framework of his approach towards stable (co-)homology is motivated and documented in [Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 393, 239--257 (2012; Zbl 1288.11056)] by the author and \textit{M. Emerton}. To get a specific impression of the results, let \(p\) be a prime number and \(\Gamma_N(p^r)\leq \text{SL}_N({\mathbb Z})\) the principal congruence subgroup of level \(p^r\). Then define the completed homology as \[ \widetilde H_*(\text{SL}_N, {\mathbb Z}_p) := {\lim} H_*(\Gamma_N(p^r),{\mathbb Z}_p) \] and analogously \[ \widetilde H^*(\text{SL}_N, {\mathbb Z}_p) := \text{colim} H^*(\Gamma_N(p^r),{\mathbb Z}_p). \] Here the (co-)limits are taken over \(r\in {\mathbb N}.\) Now we can take the limit of these groups over \(N\) for every fixed degree and define, e.g., \[ \widetilde H_d(\text{SL} , {\mathbb Z}_p) = \lim_{N\to \infty} \widetilde H_d(\text{SL}_N, {\mathbb Z}_p). \] Using a lot of machinery from homotopy theory and \(K\)-theory, the author proves several general results and deduces in particular that for \(p\neq 2\) we have \(\widetilde H_2(\text{SL}, {\mathbb Z}_p) \simeq {\mathbb Z}_p.\) There are more technical assumptions in place for dealing with other number fields. The author stresses relations to \(K\)-theory and to Leopoldt's conjecture and uses his results to calculate cohomology of congruence subgroups. For instance, if \(p\neq 2\) and \(N\) is large enough, \(H^2(\Gamma_N(p), {\mathbb F}_p) = \bigwedge^2 M \oplus {\mathbb F}_p,\) where \(M = H^1(\Gamma_N(p),{\mathbb F}_p)\).