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$\DeclareMathOperator\Pic{Pic}\DeclareMathOperator\pic{pic}$Real and complex topological $K$-theories, $KO$ and $KU$, have Picard spectra $\pic(KO)$ and $\pic(KU)$ built from the $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-spaces of invertible $KO$ and $KU$ modules respectively. I am interested in understanding the 2 and 3-truncations, respectively, of these spectra. We know that the underlying spaces of these truncations split, i.e. $$\Pic(KO)[0,2]=\Omega^\infty \pic(KO)[0,2]\simeq \mathbb{Z}/8\times K(\mathbb{Z}/2,1)\times K(\mathbb{Z}/2,2)$$ and $$\Pic(KU)[0,3]=\Omega^\infty \pic(KU)[0,3]\simeq \mathbb{Z}/2\times K(\mathbb{Z}/2,1)\times K(\mathbb{Z},3).$$

It seems to be "well known" that the first two $k$-invariants of $\pic(KO)$ are $Sq^2\circ\rho\colon H\mathbb{Z}/8\to\Sigma^2H\mathbb{Z}/2$, where $\rho$ is reduction mod 2, and then what is essentially another $Sq^2$ (the actual $k$-invariant ignores the $\mathbb{Z}/8$). Similarly, it seems to be "well known" that the first two $k$-invariants of $\pic(KU)$ are a $Sq^2$ and $\beta\circ Sq^2$ (again, this second one is a bit fudged because it ignores the $\pi_0$ part).

This fact about $\pic(KU)$ is stated in the proof of Proposition 7.14 of this paper of Gepner and Lawson, but a reference is not given. I also believe I know an argument for, at the very least, the second $k$-invariant of $\pic(KO)$. Indeed, one can compute the possible $k$-invariants that each of the above can be and show that if they're non-trivial then they're the ones I've described. But all of this seems like it must be written down somewhere already, and I'd prefer not to reinvent the wheel, if possible.

So that's the question, does anyone know of any concrete proofs of these facts about the first two $k$-invariants of $\pic(KO)$ and $\pic(KU)$?

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  • $\begingroup$ I should maybe say that from talking to Tyler Lawson, Charles Rezk and Kiran Luecke, I have learned that one can prove the non-triviality of the first two $k$-invariants of $\mathrm{pic}(KO)$ via the $J$-homomorphism. I don't think this extends to the $KU$ case. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 7, 2022 at 22:38
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    $\begingroup$ You can consider the invertible part of the super Morita 2-category (super algebras, super bimodules, etc). This has the same homotopy groups and non-trivial k-invariants (which can be verified by checking some self braidings). It also maps to Pic(KO) or Pic(KU) (via a geometric construction), so the k-invariants of the latter must be non-trivial too. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 16:13

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Essentially building on Chris Schommer-Pries' comment above, this has been worked out by Kiran Luecke, Jack Morava and myself in Section 4.2 of https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.10112.

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