We show that every coarse moduli space, parametrizing complex special linear rank-2 local systems with fixed boundary traces on a surface with nonempty boundary, is log Calabi–Yau in that it has a normal projective compactification with trivial log canonical divisor. We connect this to a novel symmetry of generating series for counts of essential multicurves on the surface.

In an earlier paper of Wee Teck Gan and Gordan Savin, the local Langlands correspondence for metaplectic groups over a nonarchimedean local field of characteristic zero was established. In this paper, we formulate and prove a local intertwining relation for metaplectic groups assuming the local intertwining relation for non-quasi-split odd special orthogonal groups.

To every dynamical system $(X,\varphi )$ over a totally disconnected compact space, we associate a left-orderable group $T(\varphi )$. It is defined as a group of homeomorphisms of the suspension of $(X,\varphi )$ which preserve every orbit of the suspension flow and act by dyadic piecewise linear homeomorphisms in the flow direction. We show that if the system is minimal, the group is simple and, if it is a subshift, then the group is finitely generated. The proofs of these two statements are short and elementary, providing straightforward examples of finitely generated simple left-orderable groups. We show that if the system is minimal, every action of the corresponding group on the circle has a fixed point. These constitute the first examples of finitely generated left-orderable groups with this fixed point property. We show that for every system $(X,\varphi )$, the group $T(\varphi )$ does not have infinite subgroups with Kazhdan's property $(T)$. In addition, we show that for every minimal subshift, the corresponding group is never finitely presentable. Finally, if $(X,\varphi )$ has a dense orbit, then the isomorphism type of the group $T(\varphi )$ is a complete invariant of flow equivalence of the pair $\{\varphi , \varphi ^{-1}\}$.

We express nested Hilbert schemes of points and curves on a smooth projective surface as ‘virtual resolutions’ of degeneracy loci of maps of vector bundles on smooth ambient spaces. We show how to modify the resulting obstruction theories to produce the virtual cycles of Vafa–Witten theory and other sheaf-counting problems. The result is an effective way of calculating invariants (VW, SW, local PT and local DT) via Thom–Porteous-like Chern class formulae.

We define and study jet bundles in the geometric orbifold category. We show that the usual arguments from the compact and the logarithmic settings do not all extend to this more general framework. This is illustrated by simple examples of orbifold pairs of general type that do not admit any global jet differential, even if some of these examples satisfy the Green–Griffiths–Lang conjecture. This contrasts with an important result of Demailly (Holomorphic Morse inequalities and the Green-Griffiths-Lang conjecture, Pure Appl. Math. Q. 7 (2011), 1165–1207) proving that compact varieties of general type always admit jet differentials. We illustrate the usefulness of the study of orbifold jets by establishing the hyperbolicity of some orbifold surfaces, that cannot be derived from the current techniques in Nevanlinna theory. We also conjecture that Demailly's theorem should hold for orbifold pairs with smooth boundary divisors under a certain natural multiplicity condition, and provide some evidence towards it.

We prove that, for any small $\varepsilon > 0$, the number of irrationals among the following odd zeta values: $\zeta (3),\zeta (5),\zeta (7),\ldots ,\zeta (s)$ is at least $( c_0 - \varepsilon )({s^{1/2}}/{(\log s)^{1/2}})$, provided $s$ is a sufficiently large odd integer with respect to $\varepsilon$. The constant $c_0 = 1.192507\ldots$ can be expressed in closed form. Our work improves the lower bound $2^{(1-\varepsilon )({\log s}/{\log \log s})}$ of the previous work of Fischler, Sprang and Zudilin. We follow the same strategy of Fischler, Sprang and Zudilin. The main new ingredient is an asymptotically optimal design for the zeros of the auxiliary rational functions, which relates to the inverse totient problem.

The commutative differential graded algebra $A_{\mathrm {PL}}(X)$ of polynomial forms on a simplicial set $X$ is a crucial tool in rational homotopy theory. In this note, we construct an integral version $A^{\mathcal {I}}(X)$ of $A_{\mathrm {PL}}(X)$. Our approach uses diagrams of chain complexes indexed by the category of finite sets and injections $\mathcal {I}$ to model $E_{\infty }$ differential graded algebras (dga) by strictly commutative objects, called commutative $\mathcal {I}$-dgas. We define a functor $A^{\mathcal {I}}$ from simplicial sets to commutative $\mathcal {I}$-dgas and show that it is a commutative lift of the usual cochain algebra functor. In particular, it gives rise to a new construction of the $E_{\infty }$ dga of cochains. The functor $A^{\mathcal {I}}$ shares many properties of $A_{\mathrm {PL}}$, and can be viewed as a generalization of $A_{\mathrm {PL}}$ that works over arbitrary commutative ground rings. Working over the integers, a theorem by Mandell implies that $A^{\mathcal {I}}(X)$ determines the homotopy type of $X$ when $X$ is a nilpotent space of finite type.