Global group laws and equivariant bordism rings

DOI10.4007/ANNALS.2022.195.3.2MaRDI QIDQ2171409zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Publication date 9 September 2022

Published in Annals of Mathematics. Second Series (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.07583

bordism formal groups global equivariant homotopy theory

Formal groups, (p)-divisible groups (14L05) Bordism and cobordism theories and formal group laws in algebraic topology (55N22) Stable homotopy theory, spectra (55P42) Equivariant homotopy theory in algebraic topology (55P91) Equivariant cobordism (57R85)

Abstract: For every abelian compact Lie group A, we prove that the homotopical A-equivariant complex bordism ring, introduced by tom Dieck (1970), is isomorphic to the A-equivariant Lazard ring, introduced by Cole-Greenlees-Kriz (2000). This settles a conjecture of Greenlees. We also show an analog for homotopical real bordism rings over elementary abelian 2-groups. Our results generalize classical theorems of Quillen (1969) on the connection between non-equivariant bordism rings and formal group laws, and extend the case

A = C_{2}

due to Hanke-Wiemeler (2018). We work in the framework of global homotopy theory, which is essential for our proof. In addition to the statements for a fixed group A, we also prove a global algebraic universal property that characterizes the collection of all equivariant complex bordism rings simultaneously. We show that they form the universal contravariant functor from abelian compact Lie groups to commutative rings that is equipped with a coordinate; the coordinate is given by the universal Euler class at the circle group. More generally, the ring of n-fold cooperations of equivariant complex bordism is shown to be universal among functors equipped with a strict n-tuple of coordinates.

Review text

\textit{D. Quillen} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 75, 1293--1298 (1969; Zbl 0199.26705)] proved that the formal group law associated to the complex orientation of complex bordism \(MU\) is the universal one. In particular, the complex bordism ring is isomorphic to the Lazard ring. This result became one of the main tools in understanding the structure of the stable homotopy category. In view of the importance of Quillen's theorem much work has been put into obtaining a similar understanding of equivariant bordism rings and their characterization in terms of formal group law data. For an abelian compact Lie group \(A\), the notion of an \(A\)-equivariant formal group law was introduced by \textit{M. Cole} et al. [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 81, No. 2, 355--386 (2000; Zbl 1030.55004)]. As in the non-equivariant case there exists a universal \(A\)-equivariant formal group law over an \(A\)-equivariant Lazard ring \(L_A\) and a map \[ \varphi_A:L_A\rightarrow \pi_*^A(MU_A) \] classifying the Euler class of a product of \(A\)-equivariant complex line bundles. Here \(MU_A\) denotes the homotopical \(A\)-equivariant bordism spectrum. It has been conjectured by Greenlees that \(\varphi_A\) is an isomorphism. This conjecture has only been proved in case that \(A\) has order two by \textit{B. Hanke} and \textit{M. Wiemeler} [Adv. Math. 340, 48--75 (2018; Zbl 1409.55012)]. The paper under review now proves the conjecture in full generality. It also proves a similar result for homotopy theoretic \(A\)-equivariant unoriented bordism \(MO_A\) in the case that \(A\) is an elementary abelian \(2\)-group. In that case one considers the ring \(L_A^{2\text{-tor}}\) carrying the universal \(A\)-equivariant \(2\)-torsion formal group law. Here the result is: The map \[ \varphi_A^{2\text{-tor}}:L_A^{2\text{-tor}}\rightarrow \pi_*^A(MO_A) \] classifying the formal group law induced from the real orientation of \(MO_A\) is an isomorphism. The proof of these results goes as follows. First it is noted that in the complex case it suffices to prove the result for tori \(A\). Then global group laws and global \(2\)-torsion group laws are introduced. These are functors \[ (\text{tori})^{\text{op}}\rightarrow \text{commutative rings} \] and \[ (\text{elementary abelian two-groups})^{\text{op}}\rightarrow \text{commutative rings} \] which have a coordinate, respectively. Examples of such global group laws are given by \(\mathbf{MU}\) and \(\mathbf{MO}\) which assign to a group its equivariant bordism ring. It is shown that in the categories \(GL_{gl}\) and \(GL_{gl}^{2\text{-tor}}\) of these group laws there exist initial objects \(\mathbf{L}\) and \(\mathbf{L}^{2\text{-tor}}\). Moreover functors \[ (\cdot)^\wedge_A:GL_{gl}\rightarrow FGL_A \] and \[ (\cdot)^\wedge_A:GL_{gl}^{2-\text{tor}}\rightarrow FGL_A^{2\text{-tor}} \] for every torus \(A\) and every elementary abelian \(2\)-group \(A\), respectively, are constructed. Here \(FGL_A\) and \(FGL_A^{2\text{-tor}}\) denote the categories of \(A\)-equivariant (2-torsion) formal group laws. It is shown that these functors have right adjoints. In particular, \[ (\mathbf{L})_A^\wedge=L_A\quad\quad\quad\text{and}\quad\quad\quad(\mathbf{L}^{2\text{-tor}})_A^\wedge=L_A^{2\text{-tor}}. \] Using the axioms of global group laws it is deduced that the non-trivial Euler classes in \(L_A\) are regular elements. It was previously known by work of Greenlees [The coefficient ring of equivariant homotopical bordism classifies equivariant formal group laws over Noetherian rings, Preprint, 2000] that \(\varphi_A\) and \(\varphi_A^{2\text{-tor}}\) become isomorphisms after inverting all non-trivial Euler classes. Therefore it follows that these maps are injective. Using Greenlees's result and the properties of global group laws it is then deduced that \(\varphi_A\) and \(\varphi_A^{2\text{-tor}}\) are also surjective. Hence the main results follow. As a consequence of this line of reasoning it also follows that \(\mathbf{L}=\mathbf{MU}\) and \(\mathbf{L}^{2\text{-tor}}=\mathbf{MO}\).

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