A combinatorial characterization of planar 2-complexes
We give a systematic account of a conjecture suggested by Mark Mahowald on the unstable Adams spectral sequences for the groups SO and U. The conjecture is related to a conjecture of Bousfield on a splitting of the E₂-term and to an algebraic spectral sequence constructed by Bousfield and Davis. We construct and realize topologically a chain complex which is conjectured to contain in its differential the structure of the unstable Adams spectral sequence for SO. A filtration of this chain complex...
The formula is , with ∂a + 1/2 [a,a] = 0 and ∂b + 1/2 [b,b] = 0, where a, b and e in degrees -1, -1 and 0 are the free generators of a completed free graded Lie algebra L[a,b,e]. The coefficients are defined by . The theorem is that ∙ this formula for ∂ on generators extends to a derivation of square zero on L[a,b,e]; ∙ the formula for ∂e is unique satisfying the first property, once given the formulae for ∂a and ∂b, along with the condition that the “flow” generated by e moves a to b in unit...