Commuting elements and spaces of homomorphisms

DOI10.1007/S00208-007-0089-ZMaRDI QIDQ2373386zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Alejandro Adem, F. R. Cohen

Publication date 19 July 2007

Published in Mathematische Annalen (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0603197

zbMATH Keywords

cohomology of spaces of homomorphisms

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Lie groups (22E99) Topological methods in group theory (57M07)

Abstract: This article records basic topological, as well as homological properties of the space of homomorphisms Hom(L,G) where L is a finitely generated discrete group, and G is a Lie group, possibly non-compact. If L is a free abelian group of rank equal to n, then Hom(L,G) is the space of ordered n-tuples of commuting elements in G. If G=SU(2), a complete calculation of the cohomology of these spaces is given for n=2, 3. An explicit stable splitting of these spaces is also obtained, as a special case of a more general splitting.

Review text

Let \(\pi\) denote a finitely generated discrete group and \(G\) a finite dimensional Lie group. The paper makes substantial contributions to the understanding of the geometry and cohomology of the spaces \(Hom(\pi,G)\) of group homomorphisms of \(\pi\) into \(G\). If \(\pi\) is a free abelian group of rank equal to \(n\), then \(Hom(\pi,G)\) is the space of ordered \(n\)-tuples of commuting elements in \(G\). In a main theorem (for the orthogonal groups), a decomposition is given of \(Hom(\pi,O(n))\) into non-empty, path-connected, disjoint closed subsets enumerated by the first Stiefel-Whitney class of the homomorphisms, and a lower bound is given for the number of components in the space. For \(G=SU(2)\), a complete calculation of the cohomology of these spaces is given for \(n=2,3\). There are numerous other interesting results in the paper.

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Cited in

(34)

• The spectrum for commutative complex K-theory
• Spaces of commuting elements in the classical groups
• Erratum to: Commuting elements and spaces of homomorphisms
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