arXiv subjects

Jesper Grodal

Publications and source records attributed to Jesper Grodal.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Endotrivial modules for finite groups via homotopy theory

Classifying endotrivial kG-modules, i.e., elements of the Picard group of the stable module category for an arbitrary finite group G, has been a long-running quest. By deep work of Dade, Alperin, Carlson, Thevenaz, and others, it has been reduced to understanding the subgroup consisting of modular representations that split as the trivial module k direct sum a projective module when restricted to a Sylow p-subgroup. In this paper we identify this subgroup as the first cohomology group of the orbit category on non-trivial p-subgroups with values in the units k^x, viewed as a constant coefficient system. We then use homotopical techniques to give a number of formulas for this group in terms of the abelianization of normalizers and centralizers in G, in particular verifying the Carlson-Thevenaz conjecture--this reduces the calculation of this group to algorithmic calculations in local group theory rather than representation theory. We also provide strong restrictions on when such representations of dimension greater than one can occur, in terms of the p-subgroup complex and p-fusion systems. We immediately recover and extend a large number of computational results in the literature, and further illustrate the computational potential by calculating the group in other sample new cases, e.g., for the Monster at all primes.

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arXiv2021

Torsion Free Endotrivial Modules for Finite Groups of Lie Type

In this paper we determine the torsion free rank of the group of endotrivial modules for any finite group of Lie type, in both defining and non-defining characteristic. On our way to proving this, we classify the maximal rank $2$ elementary abelian $\ell$-subgroups in any finite group of Lie type, for any prime $\ell$, which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2020

String topology of finite groups of Lie type

We show that the mod $\ell$ cohomology of any finite group of Lie type in characteristic $p$ different from $\ell$ admits the structure of a module over the mod $\ell$ cohomology of the free loop space of the classifying space $BG$ of the corresponding compact Lie group $G$, via ring and module structures constructed from string topology, a la Chas-Sullivan. If a certain class in the homology of the finite group of Lie type, arising from the fundamental class of $G$, is nontrivial, then this module structure is free of rank one, providing a highly structured isomorphism between the two cohomologies. We verify the nontriviality of the class in a range of cases, including all simply connected untwisted classical groups over the field of $q$ elements, with $q$ congruent to 1 mod $\ell$. We also show how to deal with twistings and avoid the congruence condition by replacing $BG$ by a certain $\ell$-compact fixed point group depending on the order of $q$ mod $\ell$, without changing the finite group. With this modification, we know of no examples where the class is trivial, raising the possibility of a general structural answer to an open question of Tezuka, who speculated about the existence of an isomorphism between the two cohomology rings.

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arXiv2013

Group cohomology and control of p-fusion

We show that if an inclusion of finite groups H < G of index prime to p induces a homeomorphism of mod p cohomology varieties, or equivalently an F-isomorphism in mod p cohomology, then H controls p-fusion in G, if p is odd. This generalizes classical results of Quillen who proved this when H is a Sylow p-subgroup, and furthermore implies a hitherto difficult result of Mislin about cohomology isomorphisms. For p=2 we give analogous results, at the cost of replacing mod p cohomology with higher chromatic cohomology theories. The results are consequences of a general algebraic theorem we prove, that says that isomorphisms between p-fusion systems over the same finite p-group are detected on elementary abelian p-groups if p odd and abelian 2-groups of exponent at most 4 if p=2.

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arXiv2010

The classification of p-compact groups and homotopical group theory

We survey some recent advances in the homotopy theory of classifying spaces, and homotopical group theory. We focus on the classification of p-compact groups in terms of root data over the p-adic integers, and discuss some of its consequences e.g. for finite loop spaces and polynomial cohomology rings.

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arXiv2008

The Steenrod problem of realizing polynomial cohomology rings

In this paper we completely classify which graded polynomial R-algebras in finitely many even degree variables can occur as the singular cohomology of a space with coefficients in R, a 1960 question of N. E. Steenrod, for a commutative ring R satisfying mild conditions. In the fundamental case R = Z, our result states that the only polynomial cohomology rings over Z which can occur, are tensor products of copies of H^*(CP^\infty;Z) = Z[x_2], H^*(BSU(n);Z) = Z[x_4,x_6,...,x_{2n}], and H^*(BSp(n):Z) = Z[x_4,x_8,...,x_{4n}] confirming an old conjecture. Our classification extends Notbohm's solution for R = F_p, p odd. Odd degree generators, excluded above, only occur if R is an F_2-algebra and in that case the recent classification of 2-compact groups by the authors can be used instead of the present paper. Our proofs are short and rely on the general theory of p-compact groups, but not on classification results for these.

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arXiv2007

The classification of 2-compact groups

We prove that any connected 2-compact group is classified by its 2-adic root datum, and in particular the exotic 2-compact group DI(4), constructed by Dwyer-Wilkerson, is the only simple 2-compact group not arising as the 2-completion of a compact connected Lie group. Combined with our earlier work with Moeller and Viruel for p odd, this establishes the full classification of p-compact groups, stating that, up to isomorphism, there is a one-to-one correspondence between connected p-compact groups and root data over the p-adic integers. As a consequence we prove the maximal torus conjecture, giving a one-to-one correspondence between compact Lie groups and finite loop spaces admitting a maximal torus. Our proof is a general induction on the dimension of the group, which works for all primes. It refines the Andersen-Grodal-Moeller-Viruel methods to incorporate the theory of root data over the p-adic integers, as developed by Dwyer-Wilkerson and the authors, and we show that certain occurring obstructions vanish, by relating them to obstruction groups calculated by Jackowski-McClure-Oliver in the early 1990s.

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arXiv2007

Automorphisms of p-compact groups and their root data

We construct a model for the space of automorphisms of a connected p-compact group in terms of the space of automorphisms of its maximal torus normalizer and its root datum. As a consequence we show that any homomorphism to the outer automorphism group of a p-compact group can be lifted to a group action, analogous to a classical theorem of de Siebenthal for compact Lie groups. The model of this paper is used in a crucial way in our paper ``The classification of 2-compact groups'', where we prove the conjectured classification of 2-compact groups and determine their automorphism spaces.

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arXiv2005

The classification of p-compact groups for p odd

A p-compact group, as defined by Dwyer and Wilkerson, is a purely homotopically defined p-local analog of a compact Lie group. It has long been the hope, and later the conjecture, that these objects should have a classification similar to the classification of compact Lie groups. In this paper we finish the proof of this conjecture, for p an odd prime, proving that there is a one-to-one correspondence between connected p-compact groups and finite reflection groups over the p-adic integers. We do this by providing the last, and rather intricate, piece, namely that the exceptional compact Lie groups are uniquely determined as p-compact groups by their Weyl groups seen as finite reflection groups over the p-adic integers. Our approach in fact gives a largely self-contained proof of the entire classification theorem.

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arXiv2005

The classification of 2-compact groups (talk summary)

This is a summary of a talk given at the "Conference on Pure and Applied Topology", Isle of Skye, June 24, 2005. It contains an announcement and sketch of proof of the classification of 2-compact groups.

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arXiv2005

Subgroup families controlling p-local finite groups

A p-local finite group consists of a finite p-group S, together with a pair of categories which encode ``conjugacy'' relations among subgroups of S, and which are modelled on the fusion in a Sylow p-subgroup of a finite group. It contains enough information to define a classifying space which has many of the same properties as p-completed classifying spaces of finite groups. In this paper, we examine which subgroups control this structure. More precisely, we prove that the question of whether an abstract fusion system F over a finite p-group S is saturated can be determined by just looking at smaller classes of subgroups of S. We also prove that the homotopy type of the classifying space of a given p-local finite group is independent of the family of subgroups used to define it, in the sense that it remains unchanged when that family ranges from the set of F-centric F-radical subgroups (at a minimum) to the set of F-quasicentric subgroups (at a maximum). Finally, we look at constrained fusion systems, analogous to p-constrained finite groups, and prove that they in fact all arise from groups.

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arXiv2005

Extension of p-local finite groups

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arXiv2005

Propagating sharp group homology decompositions

A collection C of subgroups of a finite group G can give rise to three different standard formulas for the cohomology of G in terms of either: the subgroups in C; or their centralizers; or their normalizers. We give a short but systematic study of the relationship among such formulas for nine standard collections C of p-subgroups, obtaining some new formulas in the process. To do this, we exhibit some sufficient conditions on the poset C which imply comparison results.

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arXiv2004

Higher limits via subgroup complexes

We study the higher derived functors of the inverse limit of a functor F: D --> Z_{(p)}-mod, where D is one of the standard categories which arise when studying the homotopy theory of the classifying space of a finite group G, e.g., the orbit category or the Quillen category of G. These higher limits are of importance e.g., for the study of maps between classifying spaces as well as for group cohomology. We show that these higher limits can be identified with the G-equivariant Bredon cohomology of the subgroup complex of p-subgroups in G (i.e., the nerve of the poset of p-subgroups in G) with values in a G-local coefficient system. We examine when smaller complexes can be used e.g., taking only p-radical subgroups, p-centric subgroups, elementary abelian p-subgroups or various subcollections thereof. Since the subgroup complexes are finite complexes, and often rather small, this provides concrete, computable formulas for these higher limits, generalizing earlier work of especially Jackowski-McClure-Oliver. As an application we look at the special case where all the higher limits vanish, as for example is the case for group cohomology. If F is a functor on the orbit category our formulas for the higher limits in this case yield five different expressions of F(G) in terms of values of F on proper subgroups. Two of these are `classical' namely Webb's exact sequence of Mackey functors and a formula for calculating stable elements, previously obtained using Alperin's fusion theorem. Examining this case also leads to improvements of sharpness results of homology decompositions due to Dwyer and others.

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arXiv2003

A finite loop space not rationally equivalent to a compact Lie group

We construct a connected finite loop space of rank 66 and dimension 1254 whose rational cohomology is not isomorphic as a graded vector space to the rational cohomology of any compact Lie group, hence providing a counterexample to a classical conjecture. Aided by machine calculation we verify that our counterexample is minimal, i.e., that any finite loop space of rank less than 66 is in fact rationally equivalent to a compact Lie group, extending the classical known bound of 5.

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