The Steenrod problem of realizing polynomial cohomology rings
In this paper, we completely classify which graded polynomial R-algebras in finitely many even degree variables can occur as the singular cohomology of a space with coefficients in R, a 1960 question of N. E. Steenrod, for a commutative ring R satisfying mild conditions. In the fundamental case R=Z, our result states that the only polynomial cohomology rings over Z that can occur are tensor produc
