TITLE: Künneth formulas/theorem for bordism groups and cobordisms?
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: We are familiar with Künneth theorem:
The Kunneth formula is given by $R$ as a ring, $M,M'$ as the R-modules, $X,X'$ are some chain complex. The Kunneth formula shows the cohomology of a chain complex $X \times X'$ in terms of the cohomology of a chain complex $X$ and another chain complex $X'$. For topological cohomology $H^d$, we have
$$
 H^d(X\times X', M\otimes_R M')
\simeq \Big[\oplus_{k=0}^d H^k(X,M)\otimes_R H^{d-k}(X',M')\Big]\oplus
$$
$$\Big[\oplus_{k=0}^{d+1}
\text{Tor}_1^R(H^k(X,M),H^{d-k+1}(X',M'))\Big]  .
$$
$$ 
H^d(X\times X',M)
\simeq \Big[\oplus_{k=0}^d H^k(X,M)\otimes_{\mathbb Z} H^{d-k}(X',\mathbb{Z})\Big]\oplus
$$
$$
\Big[\oplus_{k=0}^{d+1}
\text{Tor}_1^{\mathbb Z}(H^k(X,{M}),H^{d-k+1}(X',\mathbb Z))\Big].
$$
The above is valid for both topological cohomology $H^d$ and group cohomology $\mathcal{H}^d$ (for $G'$ is a finite group):
$$
\mathcal{H}^d(G\times G',M)
\simeq \Big[\oplus_{k=0}^d \mathcal{H}^k(G,M)\otimes_{\mathbb Z} \mathcal{H}^{d-k}(G',\mathbb Z)\Big]\oplus
$$
$$
\Big[\oplus_{k=0}^{d+1}
\text{Tor}_1^{\mathbb Z}(\mathcal H^k(G,M),\mathcal H^{d-k+1}(G',\mathbb Z))\Big].
$$


Questions:

[1]. Do we have similar results of Künneth theorem for bordism groups $\Omega_d^{...}(...)$? Schematically, maybe something like
  $$
\Omega_d^{...}(...) \simeq  \oplus_n \Omega_n^{...(1)}(...) \otimes \Omega_{d-n}^{...(2)}(...)?
$$
[2]. Can we, and, how can we interpret the decompositions of bordism group generators as manifolds $\Sigma_d$:
  $$
\Sigma_d \sim \Sigma_{d-n}^{(1)} \times \Sigma_{n}^{(2)}?
$$
  where $d$-manifold generators are related to the $d-n$-manifold generator and 
  $n$-manifold generator. Are these general, or are they only special cases?

Refs are welcome. Thanks.

REPLY [8 votes]: If you work with the unoriented bordism groups $\Omega^O_*(X)=MO_*(X)$ then there is a Künneth isomorphism.  This is just because there is a natural isomorphism $MO_*(X)=H_*(X;\mathbb{Z}/2)\otimes MO_*$, where $MO_*$ is a graded polynomial ring over $\mathbb{Z}/2$ with one generator $x_i$ in each degree $i>0$ not of the form $2^j-1$.  I think that all of this was already known to Thom.  The key point is that $H_*(MO;\mathbb{Z}/2)$ is a cofree comodule over the dual Steenrod algebra, by a fairly concrete and straightforward calculation.
There are also some interesting things to say if you are willing to work with the complex bordism groups $MU_*(X)=\Omega^U_*(X)$ instead of the real ones.  Here it is known that $MU_*=\mathbb{Z}[a_1,a_2,a_3,\dotsc]$,so in particular this is a free abelian group.  Consider the following conditions:

$H_*(X)$ is free abelian
$MU_*(X)$ is a free $MU_*$-module
$MU_*(X)$ is a flat $MU_*$-module
$MU_*(X)$ is Landweber exact
$MU_*(X)$ is torsion-free
The Künneth map $MU_*(X)\otimes_{MU_*}MU_*(Y)\to MU_*(X\wedge Y)$ is an isomorphism for all $Y$.

First, 1 implies 2.  Indeed, there is an Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence $H_*(X)\otimes MU_*\Rightarrow MU_*(X)$, and the differentials are controlled by homotopy groups of spheres in nonzero dimensions so they are torsion-valued, so they must be zero.  The spectral sequence therefore collapses and the claim follows easily.  Once you have recalled the definition of Landweber exactness it is easy to see that 2 implies 3 implies 4 implies 5.  The Landweber exact functor theorem says that 4 implies 6.  By taking $Y$ to be a generalised Moore spectrum $S/(v_0^{i_0},\dotsc,v_n^{i_n})$ one can also check that 6 implies 4.
Because $MU_*(X)$ is actually an $MU_*MU$-comodule rather than just an $MU_*$-module, I think it works out that 5 implies 4.  However, I am surprised to find that this very natural question has never occurred to me before.
Now suppose we want to consider the oriented real bordism groups $\Omega^{SO}_*(X)=MSO_*(X)$.  The coefficient ring $MSO_*$ is somewhat complicated: it is the direct sum of a polynomial algebra over $\mathbb{Z}$ with a module over $\mathbb{Z}/2$, and does not have any very simple presentation.  However, there is a map $MU\to MSO$ of ring spectra, and this gives a map $MU_*\to MSO_*$ of coefficient rings, and thus a natural map 
$$ MSO_* \otimes_{MU_*} MU_*(X) \to MSO_*(X). $$
If $H_*(X)$ is free abelian then we have seen that $MU_*(X)$ is a free $MU_*$-module.  It is then not hard to see that the above map is an isomorphism and so $MSO_*(X)$ is free over $MSO_*$.  Assuming that, it is not hard to deduce that the Künneth map 
$$ MSO_*(X)\otimes_{MSO_*}MSO_*(Y)\to MSO_*(X\wedge Y) $$ 
is again an isomorphism for all $Y$.