Algebra/Topology Seminar

Title: Strict units of group rings

Abstract: Just as an ordinary commutative ring has a group of units, one can associate to any commutative ring spectrum R a topological abelian group of ``strict units’’.  These strict units are a basic invariant of R, for instance controlling the types of roots one can adjoint to R.  Despite this, there have not been many calculations of strict unit groups.  I will survey some results in the area and report on work in progress, joint with Shachar Carmeli and Thomas Nikolaus, on calculating strict units of group rings.