On the Peterson hit problem

Abstract

We study the hit problem, set up by F. Peterson, of finding a minimal set of generators for the polynomial algebra $P_k := \mathbb F_2[x_1,x_2,...,x_k]$ as a module over the mod-2 Steenrod algebra, $\mathcal{A}$. In this paper, we study a minimal set of generators for $\mathcal A$-module $P_k$ in some so-call generic degrees and apply these results to explicitly determine the hit problem for $k=4$.