Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society

Author(s): G. Walker; R. M. W. Wood
Journal: Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 124 (1996), 1291-1295.
MSC (1991): Primary 55S10
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Abstract: A 20-year-old conjecture about the mod 2 Steenrod algebra $A$

, namely that the element $Sq^{2^n}$ has nilpotence height $2n+2$

, is proved. The proof uses formulae of D. M. Davis and J. H. Silverman to obtain commutation relations involving `atomic' $Sq^i$

and the canonical antiautomorphism of $A$

, together with a `stripping' technique for obtaining new relations in $A$

from old. This construction goes back to Kristensen [Math. Scand. 16 (1965), 97--115].

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Retrieve articles in Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society with MSC (1991): 55S10

G. Walker
Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Email: grant@ma.man.ac.uk

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