On cohomology rings of infinite groups

Let R be any ring (with 1), G a torsion free group and RG the corresponding group ring. Let be the cohomology ring associated with the RG-module M. Let H be a subgroup of finite index of G. The following is a special version of our main Theorem: Assume the profinite completion of G is torsion free. Then an element is nilpotent (under Yoneda’s product) if and only if its restriction to is nilpotent. In particular this holds for the Thompson group.There are torsion free groups for which the analogous statement is false.     

Products in Hochschild cohomology and Grothendieck rings of group crossed products

We give a general construction of rings graded by the conjugacy classes of a finite group. Some examples of our construction are the Hochschild cohomology ring of a finite group algebra, the Grothendieck ring of the Drinfel'd double of a group, and the orbifold cohomology ring for a global quotient. We generalize the first two examples by deriving product formulas for the Hochschild cohomology ring of a group crossed product and for the Grothendieck ring of an abelian extension of Hopf algebras. Our results account for similarities in the product structures among these examples.     

Extensions for finite Chevalley groups III: Rational and generic cohomology

Let G be a connected reductive algebraic group and B   be a Borel subgroup defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p>0$p>0$. In this paper, the authors study the existence of generic G-cohomology and its stability with rational G-cohomology groups via the use of methods from the authors' earlier work. New results on the vanishing of G and B  -cohomology groups are presented. Furthermore, vanishing ranges for the associated finite group cohomology of G(_Fq)$G({\mathbb{F}}_q)$ are established which generalize earlier work of Hiller, in addition to stability ranges for generic cohomology which improve on seminal work of Cline, Parshall, Scott and van der Kallen.     

Hochschild cohomology and stratifying ideals

Suppose B is an algebra with a stratifying ideal BeB generated by an idempotent e. We will establish long exact sequences relating the Hochschild cohomology groups of the three algebras B, B/BeB and eBe. This provides a common generalization of various known results, all of which extend Happel’s long exact sequence for one-point extensions. Applying one of these sequences to Hochschild cohomology algebras modulo the ideal generated by homogeneous nilpotent elements shows, in some cases, that these algebras are finitely generated.     

On Hochschild cohomology of orders

We show that certain tiled R-orders $\Lambda$ have periodic projective resolutions and hence we determine the Hochschild cohomology ring of $\Lambda$. This generalises, reproves and connects several results in the literature.Received: 23 October 2002     

Jumps in cohomology and free group actions

A discrete group G has periodic cohomology over R if there is an element in a cohomology group cup product with which it induces an isomorphism in cohomology after a certain dimension. Adem and Smith showed that if , then this condition is equivalent to the existence of a finite dimensional free-G-CW-complex homotopy equivalent to a sphere. It has been conjectured by Olympia Talelli, that if G is also torsion-free then it must have finite cohomological dimension. In this paper we use the implied condition of jump cohomology over R to prove the conjecture for -groups and solvable groups. We also find necessary conditions for free and proper group actions on finite dimensional complexes homotopy equivalent to closed, orientable manifolds.     

On the first Hochschild cohomology group of an algebra

Let A≡KΔ /I be a factor of a path algebra. We develop a strategy to compute dim H ¹(A), the dimension of the first Hochschild cohomology group of A, using combinatorial data from (Δ,I). That allows us to connect dim H ¹(A) with the rank and p-rank of the fundamental group π₁(Δ,I) of (Δ,I). We get explicit formulae for dim H ¹(A), when every path in Δ parallel to an arrow belongs to I or when I is homogeneous. Received: 12 April 1999 / Revised version: 9 October 2000     

On the cohomology rings of small categories

Let C be a small category and R a commutative ring with identity. The cohomology ring of C with coefficients in R is defined as the cohomology ring of the topological realization of its nerve. First we give an example showing that this ring modulo nilpotents is not finitely generated in general, even when the category is finite EI. Then we study the relationship between the cohomology ring of a category and those of its subcategories and extensions. The main results generalize certain theorems in group cohomology theory.     

On the Hochschild cohomology ring of tensor products of algebras

We prove that, as Gerstenhaber algebras, the Hochschild cohomology ring of the tensor product of two algebras is isomorphic to the tensor product of the respective Hochschild cohomology rings of these two algebras, when at least one of them is finite dimensional. In case of finite dimensional symmetric algebras, this isomorphism is an isomorphism of Batalin–Vilkovisky algebras. As an application, we explain by examples how to compute the Batalin–Vilkovisky structure, in particular, the Gerstenhaber Lie bracket, over the Hochschild cohomology ring of the group algebra of a finite abelian group.     

Comparisons between singularity categories and relative stable categories of finite groups

We consider the relationship between the relative stable category of and the usual singularity category for group algebras with coefficients in a commutative noetherian ring. When the coefficient ring is self-injective we show that these categories share a common, relatively large, Verdier quotient. At the other extreme, when the coefficient ring has finite global dimension, there is a semi-orthogonal decomposition, due to Poulton, relating the two categories. We prove that this decomposition is partially compatible with the monoidal structure and study the morphism it induces on spectra.     

Hochschild cohomology of triangular string algebras and its ring structure

We compute the Hochschild cohomology groups HH^?(A)${\mathrm{HH}}^{?}(A)$ in case A is a triangular string algebra, and show that its ring structure is trivial.     

Regular and normal closure operators and categorical compactness for groups

For a class of groupsF, closed under formation of subgroups and products, we call a subgroupA of a groupG F-regular provided there are two homomorphismsf, g: G » F, withF F, so thatA = {x G |f(x) =g(x)}.A is calledF-normal providedA is normal inG andG/A F. For an arbitrary subgroupA ofG, theF-regular (respectively,F-normal) closure ofA inG is the intersection of allF-regular (respectively,F-normal) subgroups ofG containingA. This process gives rise to two well behaved idempotent closure operators.A groupG is calledF-regular (respectively,F-normal) compact provided for every groupH, andF-regular (respectively,F-normal) subgroupA ofG × H, ₂(A) is anF-regular (respectively,F-normal) subgroup ofH. This generalizes the well known Kuratowski-Mrówka theorem for topological compactness.In this paper, theF-regular compact andF-normal compact groups are characterized for the classesF consisting of: all torsion-free groups, allR-groups, and all torsion-free abelian groups. In doing so, new classes of groups having nice properties are introduced about which little is known.     

Polynomially bounded cohomology and discrete groups

We establish the homological foundations for studying polynomially bounded group cohomology, and show that the natural map from PH^*(G;Q) to H^*(G;Q) is an isomorphism for a certain class of groups.     

Coclass and cohomology

Recently, it was proved by Leedham-Green and others that with a finite number of exceptions, every p-group of coclass r is a quotient of one of only a finite number of p-adic uniserial space groups. In this paper we use that structure to demonstrate that there are only finitely many isomorphism classes of cohomology rings of 2-groups of coclass r with coefficients in any fixed field k of characteristic 2. In addition, there is experimental evidence indicating that in many cases successive quotients of the uniserial space groups have isomorphic cohomology rings.