Milnor excision for motivic spectra

We prove that the ∞ {\infty} -category of motivic spectra satisfies Milnor excision: if A → B {A\to B} is a morphism of commutative rings sending an ideal I ⊂ A {I\subset A} isomorphically onto an ideal of B, then a motivic spectrum over A is equivalent to a pair of motivic spectra over B and A / I {A/I} that are identified over B / I ⁢ B {B/IB} . Consequently, any cohomology theory represented by a motivic spectrum satisfies Milnor excision. We also prove Milnor excision for Ayoub’s étale motives over schemes of finite virtual cohomological dimension.

The topological nilpotence degree of a Noetherian unstable algebra

We investigate the topological nilpotence degree, in the sense of Henn–Lannes–Schwartz, of a connected Noetherian unstable algebra R. When R is the mod p cohomology ring of a compact Lie group, Kuhn showed how this invariant is controlled by centralizers of elementary abelian p-subgroups. By replacing centralizers of elementary abelian p-subgroups with components of Lannes’ T-functor, and utilizing the techniques of unstable algebras over the Steenrod algebra, we are able to generalize Kuhn’s result to a large class of connected Noetherian unstable algebras. We show how this generalizes Kuhn’s result to more general classes of groups, such as groups of finite virtual cohomological dimension, profinite groups, and Kac–Moody groups. In fact, our results apply much more generally, for example, we establish results for p-local compact groups in the sense of Broto–Levi–Oliver, for connected H-spaces with Noetherian mod p cohomology, and for the Borel equivariant cohomology of a compact Lie group acting on a manifold. Along the way we establish several results of independent interest. For example, we formulate and prove a version of Carlson’s depth conjecture in the case of a Noetherian unstable algebra of minimal depth.

ON THE DIMENSION OF GROUPS THAT SATISFY CERTAIN CONDITIONS ON THEIR FINITE SUBGROUPS

We say a group G satisfies properties (M) and (NM) if every nontrivial finite subgroup of G is contained in a unique maximal finite subgroup, and every nontrivial finite maximal subgroup is self-normalizing. We prove that the Bredon cohomological dimension and the virtual cohomological dimension coincide for groups that admit a cocompact model for EG and satisfy properties (M) and (NM). Among the examples of groups satisfying these hypothesis are cocompact and arithmetic Fuchsian groups, one-relator groups, the Hilbert modular group, and 3-manifold groups.

Cube complexes and abelian subgroups of automorphism groups of RAAGs

We construct free abelian subgroups of the group U(AΓ) of untwisted outer automorphisms of a right-angled Artin group, thus giving lower bounds on the virtual cohomological dimension. The group U(AΓ) was studied in [5] by constructing a contractible cube complex on which it acts properly and cocompactly, giving an upper bound for the virtual cohomological dimension. The ranks of our free abelian subgroups are equal to the dimensions of principal cubes in this complex. These are often of maximal dimension, so that the upper and lower bounds agree. In many cases when the principal cubes are not of maximal dimension we show there is an invariant contractible subcomplex of strictly lower dimension.

Linear syzygies, hyperbolic Coxeter groups and regularity

We show that the virtual cohomological dimension of a Coxeter group is essentially the regularity of the Stanley–Reisner ring of its nerve. Using this connection between geometric group theory and commutative algebra, as well as techniques from the theory of hyperbolic Coxeter groups, we study the behavior of the Castelnuovo–Mumford regularity of square-free quadratic monomial ideals. We construct examples of such ideals which exhibit arbitrarily high regularity after linear syzygies for arbitrarily many steps. We give a doubly logarithmic bound on the regularity as a function of the number of variables if these ideals are Cohen–Macaulay.

Free and Properly Discontinuous Actions of Groups on Homotopy 2n-spheres

Let G be a group acting freely, properly discontinuously and cellularly on some finite dimensional CW-complex Σ(2n) which has the homotopy type of the 2n-sphere 𝕊2n. Then, that action induces a homomorphism G → Aut(H2n(Σ(2n))). We classify all pairs (G, φ), where G is a virtually cyclic group and φ: G → Aut(ℤ) is a homomorphism, which are realizable in the way above and the homotopy types of all possible orbit spaces as well. Next, we consider the family of all groups which have virtual cohomological dimension one and which act on some Σ(2n). Those groups consist of free groups and semi-direct products F ⋊ ℤ2 with F a free group. For a group G from the family above and a homomorphism φ: G → Aut(ℤ), we present an algebraic criterion equivalent to the realizability of the pair (G, φ). It turns out that any realizable pair can be realized on some Σ(2n) with dim Σ(2n) ≤ 2n + 1.

Presentability by products for some classes of groups

In various classes of infinite groups, we identify groups that are presentable by products, i.e. groups having finite index subgroups which are quotients of products of two commuting infinite subgroups. The classes we discuss here include groups of small virtual cohomological dimension and irreducible Zariski dense subgroups of appropriate algebraic groups. This leads to applications to groups of positive deficiency, to fundamental groups of three-manifolds and to Coxeter groups. For finitely generated groups presentable by products we discuss the problem of whether the factors in a presentation by products may be chosen to be finitely generated.