The Hopf Rings for KO and KU

Abstract

We compute the mod two homology Hopf rings of the spectra KO and KU. The spaces in these spectra are the infinite classical groups and their coset spaces, and their homology was first calculated in the Cartan seminars, but the Hopf ring structure was first determined in the second author's unpublished PhD thesis. The presentation given here serves as an introduction to the first author's much more intricate work on the connective spectrum bo. The Hopf ring viewpoint turns out to be very convenient for understanding the homological effect of various maps between classical groups and fibrations of their connective covers.