Stable modules and Wall's D(2)-problem

Abstract.

The D(2)-problem is to determine whether for a three-dimensional complex X, the vanishing of 3-dimensional cohomology, in all coefficients, is enough to guarantee that X is homotopically two-dimensional. We show that for finite complexes with finite fundamental group, a positive solution to the D(2)-problem is obtained precisely when all stably free algebraic 2-complexes are geometrically realizable. The proof makes very strong use of techniques which apply to finite fundamental groups but not more generally; in particular, Yoneda's Theorem that, for finite groups, group cohomology is representable by stable modules of finite type, and also the Swan-Jacobinski Cancellation Theorem for such stable modules.