Brown–Peterson cohomology from Morava -theory

Abstract

We prove that the $p$-completed Brown–Peterson spectrum is a retract of a product of Morava $E$-theory spectra. As a consequence, we generalize results of Kashiwabara and of Ravenel, Wilson and Yagita from spaces to spectra and deduce that the notion of a good group is determined by Brown–Peterson cohomology. Furthermore, we show that rational factorizations of the Morava $E$-theory of certain finite groups hold integrally up to bounded torsion with height-independent exponent, thereby lifting these factorizations to the rationalized Brown–Peterson cohomology of such groups.