Given a group $G$ and an integer $n\geq 0$, we consider the family ${\mathcal F}_n$ of all virtually abelian subgroups of $G$ of $\textrm{rank}$ at most $n$. In this article, we prove that for each $n\ge 2$ the Bredon cohomology, with respect to the family ${\mathcal F}_n$, of a free abelian group with $\textrm{rank}$ $k \gt n$ is nontrivial in dimension $k+n$; this answers a question of Corob Cook et al. (Homology Homotopy Appl. 19(2) (2017), 83–87, Question 2.7). As an application, we compute the minimal dimension of a classifying space for the family ${\mathcal F}_n$ for braid groups, right-angled Artin groups, and graphs of groups whose vertex groups are infinite finitely generated virtually abelian groups, for all $n\ge 2$. The main tools that we use are the Mayer–Vietoris sequence for Bredon cohomology, Bass–Serre theory, and the Lück–Weiermann construction.

We construct a Baum–Connes assembly map localised at the unit element of a discrete group $\Gamma$. This morphism, called $\mu _\tau$, is defined in $KK$-theory with coefficients in $\mathbb {R}$ by means of the action of the idempotent $[\tau ]\in KK_{\mathbin {{\mathbb {R}}}}^\Gamma (\mathbb {C},\mathbb {C})$ canonically associated to the group trace of $\Gamma$. We show that the corresponding $\tau$-Baum–Connes conjecture is weaker than the classical version, but still implies the strong Novikov conjecture. The right-hand side of $\mu _\tau$ is functorial with respect to the group $\Gamma$.

We describe the connected components of the space $\text {Hom}(\Gamma ,SU(2))$ of homomorphisms for a discrete nilpotent group $\Gamma$. The connected components arising from homomorphisms with non-abelian image turn out to be homeomorphic to $\mathbb {RP}^{3}$. We give explicit calculations when $\Gamma$ is a finitely generated free nilpotent group. In the second part of the paper, we study the filtration $B_{\text {com}} SU(2)=B(2,SU(2))\subset \cdots \subset B(q,SU(2))\subset \cdots$ of the classifying space $BSU(2)$ (introduced by Adem, Cohen and Torres-Giese), showing that for every $q\geq 2$, the inclusions induce a homology isomorphism with coefficients over a ring in which 2 is invertible. Most of the computations are done for $SO(3)$ and $U(2)$ as well.

We construct a scheme $B(r; {\mathbb {A}}^n)$ such that a map $X \to B(r; {\mathbb {A}}^n)$ corresponds to a degree-n étale algebra on X equipped with r generating global sections. We then show that when $n=2$ , i.e., in the quadratic étale case, the singular cohomology of $B(r; {\mathbb {A}}^n)({\mathbb {R}})$ can be used to reconstruct a famous example of S. Chase and to extend its application to showing that there is a smooth affine $r-1$ -dimensional ${\mathbb {R}}$ -variety on which there are étale algebras ${\mathcal {A}}_n$ of arbitrary degrees n that cannot be generated by fewer than r elements. This shows that in the étale algebra case, a bound established by U. First and Z. Reichstein in [6] is sharp.

We study a Hermitian form $h$ over a quaternion division algebra $Q$ over a field ($h$ is supposed to be alternating if the characteristic of the field is two). For generic $h$ and $Q$, for any integer $i\in [1,\;n/2]$, where $n:=\dim _{Q}h$, we show that the variety of $i$-dimensional (over $Q$) totally isotropic right subspaces of $h$ is $2$-incompressible. The proof is based on a computation of the Chow ring for the classifying space of a certain parabolic subgroup in a split simple adjoint affine algebraic group of type $C_{n}$. As an application, we determine the smallest value of the $J$-invariant of a non-degenerate quadratic form divisible by a $2$-fold Pfister form; we also determine the biggest values of the canonical dimensions of the orthogonal Grassmannians associated to such quadratic forms.

We study bounds on nilpotence in H*(BG), the mod p cohomology of the classifying space of a compact Lie group G. Part of this is a report of our previous work on this problem, updated to reflect the consequences of Peter Symonds's recent verification of Dave Benson's Regularity Conjecture. New results are given for finite p-groups, leading to good bounds on nilpotence in H*(BP) determined by the subgroup structure of the p-group P.

We consider classifying spaces of a family of p-groups and prove that mod p cohomology enriched with Bockstein spectral sequences determines their homotopy type among p-completed CW-complexes.

For a 2-category 2C we associate a notion of a principal 2C-bundle. For the 2-category of 2-vector spaces, in the sense of M.M. Kapranov and V.A. Voevodsky, this gives the 2-vector bundles of N.A. Baas, B.I. Dundas and J. Rognes. Our main result says that the geometric nerve of a good 2-category is a classifying space for the associated principal 2-bundles. In the process of proving this we develop powerful machinery which may be useful in further studies of 2-categorical topology. As a corollary we get a new proof of the classification of principal bundles. Another 2-category of 2-vector spaces has been proposed by J.C. Baez and A.S. Crans. A calculation using our main theorem shows that in this case the theory of principal 2-bundles splits, up to concordance, as two copies of ordinary vector bundle theory. When 2C is a cobordism type 2-category we get a new notion of cobordism-bundles which turns out to be classified by the Madsen–Weiss spaces.

In this paper we explore the possibility of defining $p$-local finite groups in terms of transfer properties of their classifying spaces. More precisely, we consider the question, posed by Haynes Miller, of whether an equivalent theory can be obtained by studying triples $(f,t,X)$, where $X$ is a $p$-complete, nilpotent space with a finite fundamental group, $f:BS\to X$ is a map from the classifying space of a finite $p$-group, and $t$ is a stable retraction of $f$ satisfying Frobenius reciprocity at the level of stable homotopy. We refer to $t$ as a retractive transfer of $f$ and to $(f,t,X)$ as a retractive transfer triple over $S$.

In the case where $S$ is elementary abelian, we answer this question in the affirmative by showing that a retractive transfer triple $(f,t,X)$ over $S$ does indeed induce a $p$-local finite group over $S$ with $X$ as its classifying space.

Using previous results obtained by the author, we show that the converse is true for general finite $p$-groups. That is, for a $p$-local finite group $(S,\mathcal{F},\mathcal{L})$, the natural inclusion $\theta:BS\to X$ has a retractive transfer $t$, making $(\theta,t,|\mathcal{L}|^{\wedge}_p)$ a retractive transfer triple over $S$. This also requires a proof, obtained jointly with Ran Levi, that $|\mathcal{L}|^{\wedge}_p$ is a nilpotent space, which is of independent interest.