The chromatic splitting conjecture at n = p = 2

Abstract

We show that the strongest form of Hopkins' chromatic splitting conjecture, as stated by Hovey, cannot hold at chromatic level n=2 at the prime p=2. More precisely, for V(0) the mod 2 Moore spectrum, we prove that the kth homotopy group of L_1L_{K(2)}V(0) is not zero when k is congruent to -3 modulo 8. We explain how this contradicts the decomposition of L_1L_{K(2)}S predicted by the chromatic splitting conjecture.