English

On Singer's conjecture for the fourth algebraic transfer in certain generic degrees

Algebraic Topology 2025-09-22 v3 Geometric Topology Rings and Algebras Representation Theory

Abstract

Let AA be the Steenrod algebra over the finite field k:=Z2k := \mathbb Z_2 and G(q)G(q) be the general linear group of rank qq over k.k. A well-known open problem in algebraic topology is the explicit determination of the cohomology groups of the Steenrod algebra, ExtAq,(k,k),{\rm Ext}^{q, *}_A(k, k), for all homological degrees q0.q \geq 0. The Singer algebraic transfer of rank q,q, formulated by William Singer in 1989, serves as a valuable method for the description of such Ext groups. This transfer maps from the coinvariants of a certain representation of G(q)G(q) to ExtAq,(k,k).{\rm Ext}^{q, *}_A(k, k). Singer predicted that the algebraic transfer is always injective, but this has gone unanswered for all q4.q\geq 4. This paper establishes Singer's conjecture for rank four in the generic degrees n=2s+t+1+2s+13n = 2^{s+t+1} +2^{s+1} - 3 whenever t3t\neq 3 and s1,s\geq 1, and n=2s+t+2s2n = 2^{s+t} + 2^{s} - 2 whenever t2,3,4t\neq 2,\, 3,\, 4 and s1.s\geq 1. In conjunction with our previous results, this completes the proof of the Singer conjecture for rank four. All the obtained results can be verified directly by using the program suite of our novel algorithms presented in [17, 18, 19, 20]. We note that although Singer's conjecture still holds for the case of rank 4, it no longer holds for rank 6, as announced in our most recent work [20].

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.10232,
  title  = {On Singer's conjecture for the fourth algebraic transfer in certain generic degrees},
  author = {Dang Vo Phuc},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.10232},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

34 pages. This paper is a corrigendum. It validates Singer's conjecture for ranks $\leq 4,$ in conjunction with prior results, with the computations fully verified by our new suite of algorithms. However, given our recent disprove for rank 6 in [20] (fully verified with the OSCAR computer algebra system), the nearly 40-year investigation of the conjecture is now concluded

R2 v1 2026-07-01T03:12:16.288Z