Given a height at most two Landweber exact $\mathbb {E}_\infty$-ring $E$ whose homotopy is concentrated in even degrees, we show that any complex orientation of $E$ which satisfies the Ando criterion admits a unique lift to an $\mathbb {E}_\infty$-complex orientation $\mathrm {MU} \to E$. As a consequence, we give a short proof that the level $n$ elliptic genus lifts uniquely to an $\mathbb {E}_\infty$-complex orientation $\mathrm {MU} \to \mathrm {tmf}_1 (n)$ for all $n\, {\geq}\, 2$.

We compute the connective spectra of maps from $\mathbb {Z}$ to the Picard spectra of the spherical Witt vectors associated with perfect rings of characteristic $p$. As an application, we determine the connective spectrum of maps from $\mathbb {Z}$ to the Picard spectrum of the sphere spectrum.

John Rognes developed a notion of Galois extension of commutative ring spectra, and this includes a criterion for identifying an extension as unramified. Ramification for commutative ring spectra can be detected by relative topological Hochschild homology and by topological André–Quillen homology. In the classical algebraic context, it is important to distinguish between tame and wild ramification. Noether’s theorem characterizes tame ramification in terms of a normal basis, and tame ramification can also be detected via the surjectivity of the trace map. For commutative ring spectra, we suggest to study the Tate construction as a suitable analog. It tells us at which integral primes there is tame or wild ramification, and we determine its homotopy type in examples in the context of topological K-theory and topological modular forms.

Homotopy theory folklore tells us that the sheaf defining the cohomology theory $\operatorname {\mathrm {Tmf}}$ of topological modular forms is unique up to homotopy. Here we provide a proof of this fact, although we claim no originality for the statement. This retroactively reconciles all previous constructions of $\operatorname {\mathrm {Tmf}}$.

We define stable homotopy refinements of Khovanov’s arc algebras and tangle invariants.

In this paper we develop methods for classifying Baker, Richter, and Szymik's Azumaya algebras over a commutative ring spectrum, especially in the largely inaccessible case where the ring is nonconnective. We give obstruction-theoretic tools, constructing and classifying these algebras and their automorphisms with Goerss–Hopkins obstruction theory, and give descent-theoretic tools, applying Lurie's work on $\infty$-categories to show that a finite Galois extension of rings in the sense of Rognes becomes a homotopy fixed-point equivalence on Brauer spaces. For even-periodic ring spectra $E$, we find that the ‘algebraic’ Azumaya algebras whose coefficient ring is projective are governed by the Brauer–Wall group of $\pi _0(E)$, recovering a result of Baker, Richter, and Szymik. This allows us to calculate many examples. For example, we find that the algebraic Azumaya algebras over Lubin–Tate spectra have either four or two Morita equivalence classes, depending on whether the prime is odd or even, that all algebraic Azumaya algebras over the complex K-theory spectrum $KU$ are Morita trivial, and that the group of the Morita classes of algebraic Azumaya algebras over the localization $KU[1/2]$ is $\mathbb {Z}/8\times \mathbb {Z}/2$. Using our descent results and an obstruction theory spectral sequence, we also study Azumaya algebras over the real K-theory spectrum $KO$ which become Morita-trivial $KU$-algebras. We show that there exist exactly two Morita equivalence classes of these. The nontrivial Morita equivalence class is realized by an ‘exotic’ $KO$-algebra with the same coefficient ring as $\mathrm {End}_{KO}(KU)$. This requires a careful analysis of what happens in the homotopy fixed-point spectral sequence for the Picard space of $KU$, previously studied by Mathew and Stojanoska.

For a prime p and a field k of characteristic $p,$ we define Steenrod operations $P^{n}_{k}$ on motivic cohomology with $\mathbb {F}_{p}$ -coefficients of smooth varieties defined over the base field $k.$ We show that $P^{n}_{k}$ is the pth power on $H^{2n,n}(-,\mathbb {F}_{p}) \cong CH^{n}(-)/p$ and prove an instability result for the operations. Restricted to mod p Chow groups, we show that the operations satisfy the expected Adem relations and Cartan formula. Using these new operations, we remove previous restrictions on the characteristic of the base field for Rost’s degree formula. Over a base field of characteristic $2,$ we obtain new results on quadratic forms.

In order to treat multiplicative phenomena in twisted (co)homology, we introduce a new point-set-level framework for parametrized homotopy theory. We provide a convolution smash product that descends to the corresponding $\infty$-categorical product and allows for convenient constructions of commutative parametrized ring spectra. As an immediate application, we compare various models for generalized Thom spectra. In a companion paper, this approach is used to compare homotopical and operator algebraic models for twisted $K$-theory.

We develop a theory of $R$-module Thom spectra for a commutative symmetric ring spectrum $R$ and we analyze their multiplicative properties. As an interesting source of examples, we show that $R$-algebra Thom spectra associated to the special unitary groups can be described in terms of quotient constructions on $R$. We apply the general theory to obtain a description of the $R$-based topological Hochschild homology associated to an $R$-algebra Thom spectrum.

Using the descent spectral sequence for a Galois extension of ring spectra, we compute the Picard group of the higher real $K$-theory spectra of Hopkins and Miller at height $n=p-1$, for $p$ an odd prime. More generally, we determine the Picard groups of the homotopy fixed points spectra $E_{n}^{hG}$, where $E_{n}$ is Lubin–Tate $E$-theory at the prime $p$ and height $n=p-1$, and $G$ is any finite subgroup of the extended Morava stabilizer group. We find that these Picard groups are always cyclic, generated by the suspension.

The aim of this note is to present a new, elementary proof of a result of Baas and Madsen on the mod p cohomology of certain quotients of the spectrum BP.

The loop homology ring of an oriented closed manifold, defined by Chas and Sullivan, is interpreted as a fibrewise homology Pontrjagin ring. The basic structure, particularly the commutativity of the loop multiplication and the homotopy invariance, is explained from the viewpoint of the fibrewise theory, and the definition is extended to arbitrary compact manifolds.

This paper constructs hyper-homology spectral sequences of $\mathbb{Z}$-graded and $RO_{G}$-graded Mackey functors that compute $\mathrm{Ext}$ and $\mathrm{Tor}$ over $G$-equivariant $S$-algebras ($A_{\infty}$ ring spectra) for finite groups $G$. These specialize to universal coefficient and K\"unneth spectral sequences.