Bott cannibalistic class

In mathematics, the Bott cannibalistic class, introduced by Bott (1962), is an element θ_k(V) of the representation ring of a compact Lie group that describes the action of the Adams operation Ψ^k on the Thom class λ_V of a complex representation V. The term "cannibalistic" for these classes was introduced by Adams (1965, p.151).

References

• Adams, J. F. (1965), "On the groups J(X) II", Topology 3 (2): 137, doi:10.1016/0040-9383(65)90040-6
• Bott, Raoul (1962), "A note on the KO-theory of sphere-bundles", Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 68: 395–400, doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1962-10819-2, ISSN 0002-9904, MR 0153019