Operations in connective K-theory

Abstract

In this article we classify additive operations in connective K-theory with various torsion-free coefficients. We discover that the answer for the integral case requires understanding of the $\hat{\mathbb{Z}}$ one. Moreover, although integral additive operations are topologically generated by Adams operations, these are not reduced to infinite linear combinations of the latter ones. We describe a topological basis for stable operations and relate it to a basis of stable operations in graded K-theory. We classify multiplicative operations in both theories and show that homogeneous additive stable operations with $\hat{\mathbb{Z}}$-coefficients are topologically generated by stable multiplicative operations. This is not true for integral operations.

to appear in Algebra and Number Theory