A canonical lift of Frobenius in Morava E-theory

Abstract

We prove that the $p$th Hecke operator on the Morava $E$-cohomology of a space is congruent to the Frobenius mod $p$. This is a generalization of the fact that the $p$th Adams operation on the complex $K$-theory of a space is congruent to the Frobenius mod $p$. The proof implies that the $p$th Hecke operator may be used to test Rezk's congruence criterion.