Strictly commutative complex orientation theory

Michael J. Hopkins, Tyler Lawson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

For a multiplicative cohomology theory E, complex orientations are in bijective correspondence with multiplicative natural transformations to E from complex bordism cohomology MU. If E is represented by a spectrum with a highly structured multiplication, we give an iterative process for lifting an orientation MU→ E to a map respecting this extra structure, based on work of Arone–Lesh. The space of strictly commutative orientations is the limit of an inverse tower of spaces parametrizing partial lifts; stage 1 corresponds to ordinary complex orientations, and lifting from stage (m- 1) to stage m is governed by the existence of an orientation for a family of E-modules over a fixed base space Fm. When E is p-local, we can say more. We find that this tower only changes when m is a power of p, and if E is E(n)-local the tower is constant after stage pn. Moreover, if the coefficient ring E is p-torsion free, the ability to lift from stage 1 to stage p is equivalent to a condition on the associated formal group law that was shown necessary by Ando.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)83-101
Number of pages19
JournalMathematische Zeitschrift
Volume290
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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