The Chromatic Nullstellensatz

Abstract

We show that Lubin--Tate theories attached to algebraically closed fields are characterized among $T(n)$-local ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-rings as those that satisfy an analogue of Hilbert's Nullstellensatz. Furthermore, we show that for every $T(n)$-local ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-ring $R$, the collection of ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-ring maps from $R$ to such Lubin-Tate theories jointly detect nilpotence. In particular, we deduce that every non-zero $T(n)$-local ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-ring $R$ admits an ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-ring map to such a Lubin-Tate theory. As consequences, we construct ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$ complex orientations of algebraically closed Lubin-Tate theories, compute the strict Picard spectra of such Lubin-Tate theories, and prove redshift for the algebraic $\mathrm{K}$-theory of arbitrary ${\mathbb{E}}_{\infty }$-rings.

108 pages, 1 Figure, comments welcome!