The spectra ko and ku are not Thom spectra: an approach using THH

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the spectra ko and ku are not Thom spectra by applying a specific approach involving topological Hochschild homology (THH), providing a new proof of a known theorem.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using THH to reprove that ko and ku are not Thom spectra, under certain conditions.

Findings

ko and ku are not Thom spectra

The approach uses THH to establish non-Thom spectrum status

Provides an alternative proof of Mahowald's theorem

Abstract

We apply an announced result of Blumberg-Cohen-Schlichtkrull to reprove (under restricted hypotheses) a theorem of Mahowald: the connective real and complex K-theory spectra are not Thom spectra.