A note on the hit problem for the polynomial algebra in the case of odd primes and its application (Q6144649)

Let \(p\) be a prime and let \(P_h:=\mathbb{F}_p[t_1,t_2,\dots,t_h]\) denote the graded polynomial algebra over the prime field of \(p\) elements and let \(GL (h, {\mathbb F}_{p}) \) denote the general linear group of rank \(h\) over \({\mathbb F}_p.\) The paper under review is concerned with the \textit{hit problem} set up by F. Peterson, of finding a minimal generating set for the polynomial algebra \(P_h\) as a module over the mod \(p\) Steenrod algebra \(\mathcal{A}_p,\) or, equivalently, of determining a monomial basis of the \({\mathbb F}_{p}\)-vector space \({\mathbb F}_p \otimes_{\mathcal{A}_p} { P}_{h}.\) Denote by \(( {\mathbb F}_p \otimes_{\mathcal{A}_p} { P}_{h})_n\) the homogeneous component of degree \(n\) in \({\mathbb F}_p \otimes_{\mathcal{A}_p} { P}_{h}.\) The hit problem has been utilized to investigate the Singer algebraic transfer, [Math. Z. 202, No. 4, 493--523 (1989; Zbl 0687.55014)] \textit{W. M. Singer}, which is a homomorphism \[ Tr_h^{\mathcal{A}_p} : ({\mathbb F}_p \otimes_{GL (h, {\mathbb F}_{p})}\mathrm{Ann}_{\overline{\mathcal{A}_p}}H_*(V;{\mathbb F}_{p}))_n \rightarrow \mathrm{Ext}_{\mathcal{A}_p}^{h,h+n}({\mathbb F}_p, {\mathbb F}_p). \] Here \(V\) denotes the rank \(h\) elementary abelian \(p\)-group, \(\prod_{i=1}^{h}({\mathbb Z}/p{\mathbb Z}).\) In this paper the author investigates the behavior of \(Tr_h^{\mathcal{A}_p}\) for the cases \(p>2\) and \(h=3\) in some \textit{generic} degrees. He shows that the transfer homomorphism \(Tr_h^{\mathcal{A}_p}\) is one-to-one for \(h=3\) and any odd prime \(p.\)