Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2009
The problem of deciding which graded polynomial algebras over the field of p elements can occur as the -cohomology of a space has played a central rôle in the development of algebraic topology beginning as early as 1950. In the case where the polynomial generators do not occur in dimensions divisible by p, Adams and Wilkerson [1] have given a complete solution by showing that the spaces constructed by Clark and Ewing [3] suffice to realize all such algebras as -cohomology rings. The main result of Adams and Wilkerson for odd primes can be stated as follows.