Homotopy Mackey functors of equivariant algebraic K-theory

Abstract: Given a finite group

G

acting on a ring

R

, Merling constructed an equivariant algebraic

K

-theory

G

-spectrum, and work of Malkiewich and Merling, as well as work of Barwick, provides an interpretation of this construction as a spectral Mackey functor. This construction is powerful, but highly categorical; as a result the Mackey functors comprising the homotopy are not obvious from the construction and have therefore not yet been calculated. In this work, we provide a computation of the homotopy Mackey functors of equivariant algebraic

K

-theory in terms of a purely algebraic construction. In particular, we construct Mackey functors out of the

n

th algebraic

K

-groups of group rings whose multiplication is twisted by the group action. Restrictions and transfers for these functors admit a tractable algebraic description in that they arise from restriction and extension of scalars along module categories of twisted group rings. In the case where the group action is trivial, our construction recovers work of Dress and Kuku from the 1980's which constructs Mackey functors out of the algebraic

K

-theory of group rings. We develop many families of examples of Mackey functors, both new and old, including

K

-theory of endomorphism rings, the

K

-theory of fixed subrings of Galois extensions, and (topological) Hochschild homology of twisted group rings.

Review text

Given a ring \(R\), classical algebraic \(K\)-theory produces a spectrum whose homotopy groups are the algebraic \(K\)-groups of \(R\). If the ring \(R\) is equipped with an action by a finite group \(G\), work of Merling provides a \(G\)-spectrum, whose homotopy gives an equivariant version of \(K\)-theory for rings. This homotopy forms a \textit{Mackey functor}, which consists of a collection of abelian groups indexed over subgroups of \(G\) together with restriction and transfer maps subject to some conditions appearing here in definition 2.1.5. Mackey functors are equivalent to modules over the \textit{Burnside category} (see definition 2.1.2.), and one can also define \textit{spectral Mackey functors}, which are modules over a spectrally-enriched version of the Burnside category. Guillou and May showed that spectral Mackey functors are equivalent to \(G\)-spectra, and this permits to interpret (the \(G\)-spectrum of) equivariant \(K\)-theory as a spectral Mackey functor: this is the Mankiewicz and Merling construction on Waldhausen \(G\)-categories, discussed here in sections 2.4 and 2.5. The above construction of equivariant \(K\)-theory from spectral Massey functors is categorical and the Massey functors that make up its homotopy have not been calculated in general. This work provides a direct algebraic construction that gives an easier interpretation of the homotopy Massey functors of equivariant \(K\)-theory. The author uses \textit{twisted group rings} \(R_\theta[G]\) for each ring \(R\) equipped with an action \(\theta\) by the group \(G\), a version of the group ring \(R[G]\) but with multiplication twisted by the group action (definition 2.3.1). One central result is then Theorem 3.0.1, showing the existence of a Mackey functor \(\underline K^G_n(R)\) whose value at \(G/H\), where \(H\) is a subgroup \(G\), is given by the algebraic \(K\)-theory \(K_n(R_\theta[H])\) and whose restriction and transfer maps come from extension and restriction of scalars along homomorphisms of twisted group rings. The definition of these Mackey functors \(\underline K^G_n(R)\) is done in section 3, and specifically the axioms of a Massey functor are checked in sections 3.3 and 3.4 (plus appendix a). Proposition 3.6.2 in the short section 3.6 shows that, whenever the \(G\)-action is trivial, these Massey functors recover those constructed by Dress and Kuku. The other major result here is Theorem 4.0.1, where the author shows the existence of spectral Mackey functors \(\mathbf{K}_G(R)\), for \(G\)-rings \(R\) (such that the order of the finite group \(G\) is invertible in \(R\)), whose homotopy consists of the previously defined Mackey functors \(\underline K^G_n(R)\). The \(\mathbf{K}_G(R)\) are equivalent to the equivariant algebraic \(K\)-theory of \(R\) of Malkievich and Merling. The final section of this work constructs different families of Mackey functors from the previous results. These include the \(K\)-theory of endomorphism rings (proposition 5.3.3), the \(K\)-theory of Galois extension (proposition 5.2.1), and the topological Hochschild homology of twisted group rings (example 5.3.4).

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