Character theory and Euler characteristic for orbispaces and infinite groups

Abstract

Given a discrete group $G$ with a finite model for $\underline{E}G$, we study $K(n)^*(BG)$ and $E^*(BG)$, where $K(n)$ is the $n$-th Morava $K$-theory for a given prime and $E$ is the height $n$ Morava $E$-theory. In particular we generalize the character theory of Hopkins, Kuhn and Ravenel who studied these objects for finite groups. We give a formula for a localization of $E^*(BG)$ and the $K(n)$-theoretic Euler characteristic of $BG$ in terms of centralizers. In certain cases these calculations lead to a full computation of $E^*(BG)$, for example when $G$ is a right angled Coxeter group, and for $G=SL_3(\mathbb{Z})$. We apply our results to the mapping class group $\Gamma_\frac{p-1}{2}$ for an odd prime $p$ and to certain arithmetic groups, including the symplectic group $Sp_{p-1}(\mathbb{Z})$ for an odd prime $p$ and $SL_2(\mathcal{O}_K)$ for a totally real field $K$.