Mod 2 power operations revisited

Abstract

In this mostly expository note we take advantage of homotopical and algebraic advances to give a modern account of power operations on the mod 2 homology of $\mathbb{E}_{\infty}$-ring spectra. The main advance is a quick proof of the Adem relations utilizing the Tate-valued Frobenius as a homotopical incarnation of the total power operation. We also give a streamlined derivation of the action of power operations on the dual Steenrod algebra.