We define and study virtual representation spaces for vectors having both positive and negative dimensions at the vertices of a quiver without oriented cycles. We consider the natural semi-invariants on these spaces which we call virtual semi-invariants and prove that they satisfy the three basic theorems: the first fundamental theorem, the saturation theorem and the canonical decomposition theorem. In the special case of Dynkin quivers with n vertices, this gives the fundamental interrelationship between supports of the semi-invariants and the tilting triangulation of the (n−1)-sphere.

Using non-abelian cohomology we introduce new obstructions to the Hasse principle. In particular, we generalize the classical descent formalism to principal homogeneous spaces under noncommutative algebraic groups and give explicit examples of application.

Various $p$-adic versions of Littlewood's conjecture are investigated, generalizing a set-up considered recently by de Mathan and Teulié. In many cases it is shown that the sets of exceptions to these conjectures have Hausdorff dimension zero. The proof follows the measure ridigity approach of Einsiedler, Katok and Lindenstrauss.

For a Whitney stratification S of a space X (or, more generally, a topological stratification in the sense of Goresky and MacPherson) we introduce the notion of an S-constructible stack of categories on X. The motivating example is the stack of S-constructible perverse sheaves. We introduce a 2-category EP≤2(X,S), called the exit-path 2-category, which is a natural stratified version of the fundamental 2-groupoid. Our main result is that the 2-category of S-constructible stacks on X is equivalent to the 2-category of 2-functors 2Funct(EP≤2(X,S),Cat) from the exit-path 2-category to the 2-category of small categories.

We present a superfield formulation of the chiral de Rham complex (CDR), as introduced by Malikov, Schechtman and Vaintrob in 1999, in the setting of a general smooth manifold, and use it to endow CDR with superconformal structures of geometric origin. Given a Riemannian metric, we construct an N=1 structure on CDR (action of the N=1 super-Virasoro, or Neveu–Schwarz, algebra). If the metric is Kähler, and the manifold Ricci-flat, this is augmented to an N=2 structure. Finally, if the manifold is hyperkähler, we obtain an N=4 structure. The superconformal structures are constructed directly from the Levi-Civita connection. These structures provide an analog for CDR of the extended supersymmetries of nonlinear σ-models.

This paper deals with singularities of nonconfluent hypergeometric functions in several complex variables. Typically such a function is a multi-valued analytic function with singularities along an algebraic hypersurface. We describe such hypersurfaces in terms of the amoebas and the Newton polytopes of their defining polynomials. In particular, we show that the amoebas of classical discriminantal hypersurfaces are solid, that is, they possess the minimal number of complement components.

Some smooth Calabi–Yau threefolds in characteristic two and three that do not lift to characteristic zero are constructed. These threefolds are pencils of supersingular K3-surfaces. The construction depends on Moret-Bailly's pencil of abelian surfaces and Katsura's analysis of generalized Kummer surfaces. The threefold in characteristic two turns out to be nonrigid.

The main goal of this paper is to provide asymptotic expansions for the numbers #{p≤x:p prime,sq(p)=k} for k close to ((q−1)/2)log qx, where sq(n) denotes the q-ary sum-of-digits function. The proof is based on a thorough analysis of exponential sums of the form (where the sum is restricted to p prime), for which we have to extend a recent result by the second two authors.

This article treats compactifications of the space of generalized spin curves. Generalized spin curves, or r-spin curves, are pairs (X,L) with X a smooth curve and L a line bundle whose rth tensor power is isomorphic to the canonical bundle of X. These are a natural generalization of 2-spin curves (algebraic curves with a theta-characteristic), which have been of interest recently, in part because of their applications to fermionic string theory. Three different compactifications over Z[1/r], all using torsion-free sheaves, are constructed. All three yield algebraic stacks, one of which is shown to have Gorenstein singularities that can be described explicitly, and one of which is smooth. All three compactifications generalize constructions of Deligne and Cornalba done for the case when r=2.

Green’s conjecture predicts than one can read off special linear series on an algebraic curve, by looking at the syzygies of its canonical embedding. We extend Voisin’s results on syzygies of K3 sections, to the case of K3 surfaces with arbitrary Picard lattice. This, coupled with results of Voisin and Hirschowitz–Ramanan, provides a complete solution to Green’s conjecture for smooth curves on arbitrary K3 surfaces.

A new type of basic hypergeometric series based on Macdonald polynomials is introduced. Besides a pair of Macdonald polynomials attached to two different sets of variables, a key ingredient in the basic hypergeometric series is a bisymmetric function related to Macdonald’s commuting family of q-difference operators, to the Selberg integrals of Tarasov and Varchenko, and to alternating sign matrices. Our main result for series is a multivariable generalization of the celebrated q-binomial theorem. In the limit this q-binomial sum yields a new Selberg integral for Jack polynomials.

Let p be a prime number and let F be a local field with finite residual field of characteristic p. The Langlands local correspondence modulo $\ell \neq p $ for GL(n, F) is known for all integers $n\geq 1$ but the case $\ell=p$ is still mysterious even when n = 2 (the case n = 1 is given by the local class field theory). Any irreducible $\overline{\bf F}_p$-representation of GL(n, F) has a non-zero vector invariant by the pro-p-Iwahori subgroup I(1) and the pro-p-Iwahori–Hecke $\overline{\bf F}_p$-algebra ${\cal H}_{ \overline{\bf F}_p}(GL(n,F),I(1))$ plays a fundamental role in the theory of $\overline{\bf F}_p$-representations of G. We get when n = 2: (i) A bijection between the irreducible $\overline{\bf F}_p$-representations of dimension 2 of the Weil group $W(\overline F/ F)$ and the simple supersingular modules of the pro-p-Iwahori–Hecke $\overline{\bf F}_p$-algebra ${\cal H}_{\overline{\bf F}_p}(GL(2,F),I(1))$. (ii) A new proof of the Barthel–Livne classification of the irreducible non-supersingular $\overline{\bf F}_p$-representations of GL(2, F) using the I(1)-invariant functor. (iii) A bijection between the irreducible $\overline{\bf F}_p$-representations of GL(2, Qp) and the simple right ${\cal H}_{\overline{\bf F}_p}(GL(2,{\bf Q}_p),I(1))$-modules given by the I(1)-invariant functor, using the recent results of Breuil.

We introduce the idea of a geometric categorical Lie algebra action on derived categories of coherent sheaves. The main result is that such an action induces an action of the braid group associated to the Lie algebra. The same proof shows that strong categorical actions in the sense of Khovanov–Lauda and Rouquier also lead to braid group actions. As an example, we construct an action of Artin’s braid group on derived categories of coherent sheaves on cotangent bundles to partial flag varieties.

Let V be a vector space over a p-adic field F, of finite dimension, let q be a non-degenerate quadratic form over V and let D be a non-isotropic line in V. Denote by W the hyperplane orthogonal to D, and by G and H the special orthogonal groups of V and W. Let π, respectively σ, be an irreducible admissible representation of G(F) , respectively H(F) . The representation σ appears as a quotient of the restriction of π to H(F)with a certain multiplicity m(π,σ) . We know that m(π,σ)≤1 . We assume that π is supercuspidal. Then we prove a formula that computes m(π,σ)as an integral of functions deduced from the characters of π and σ. Let Π, respectively Σ, be an L-packet of tempered irreducible representations of G(F) , respectively H(F) . Here we use the sophisticated notion of L-packet due to Vogan and we assume some usual conjectural properties of those packets. A weak form of the local Gross–Prasad conjecture says that there exists a unique pair (π,σ)∈Π×Σ such that m(π,σ)=1 . Assuming that the elements of Π are supercuspidal, we prove this assertion.

Let $Q\in{\mathbb C}[x_1,\dotsc,x_n]$ be a homogeneous polynomial of degree $k>0$. We establish a connection between the Bernstein–Sato polynomial $b_Q(s)$ and the degrees of the generators for the top cohomology of the associated Milnor fiber. In particular, the integer $u_Q={\rm max}\{i\in{\mathbb Z}:b_Q(-(i+n)/k)=0\}$ bounds the top degree (as differential form) of the elements in $H^{n-1}_{\rm DR}(Q^{-1}(1),{\mathbb C})$. The link is provided by the relative de Rham complex and ${\mathcal D}$-module algorithms for computing integration functors.

As an application we determine the Bernstein–Sato polynomial $b_Q(s)$ of a generic central arrangement $Q=\prod_{i=1}^kH_i$ of hyperplanes. In turn, we obtain information about the cohomology of the Milnor fiber of such arrangements related to results of Orlik and Randell who investigated the monodromy.

We also introduce certain subschemes of the arrangement determined by the roots of $b_Q(s)$. They appear to correspond to iterated singular loci.

Suppose that G is a connected reductive group over a p-adic field F, that K is a hyperspecial maximal compact subgroup of G(F), and that V is an irreducible representation of K over the algebraic closure of the residue field of F. We establish an analogue of the Satake isomorphism for the Hecke algebra of compactly supported,K-biequivariant functions f:G(F)→End   V. These Hecke algebras were first considered by Barthel and Livné for GL 2. They play a role in the recent mod p andp-adic Langlands correspondences for GL 2 (ℚp) , in generalisations of Serre’s conjecture on the modularity of mod p Galois representations, and in the classification of irreducible mod p representations of unramified p-adic reductive groups.

We give a presentation of the moduli stack of toric vector bundles with fixed equivariant total Chern class as a quotient of a fine moduli scheme of framed bundles by a linear group action. This fine moduli scheme is described explicitly as a locally closed subscheme of a product of partial flag varieties cut out by combinatorially specified rank conditions. We use this description to show that the moduli of rank three toric vector bundles satisfy Murphy’s law, in the sense of Vakil. The preliminary sections of the paper give a self-contained introduction to Klyachko’s classification of toric vector bundles.

The main objects of study in this article are two classes of Rankin–Selberg L-functions, namely L(s,f×g) and L(s, sym2(g)× sym2(g)), where f,g are newforms, holomorphic or of Maass type, on the upper half plane, and sym2(g) denotes the symmetric square lift of g to GL(3). We prove that in general, i.e., when these L-functions are not divisible by L-functions of quadratic characters (such divisibility happening rarely), they do not admit any LandauSiegel zeros. Such zeros, which are real and close to s=1, are highly mysterious and are not expected to occur. There are corollaries of our result, one of them being a strong lower bound for special value at s=1, which is of interest both geometrically and analytically. One also gets this way a good bound on the norm of sym2(g).

The connection between these Fano 3-folds and plane quartic curves is explained.

Using the middle convolution functor MCχ introduced by N. Katz, we prove the existence of rigid local systems whose monodromy is dense in the simple algebraic group G2. We derive the existence of motives for motivated cycles which have a motivic Galois group of type G2. Granting Grothendieck’s standard conjectures, the existence of motives with motivic Galois group of type G2 can be deduced, giving a partial answer to a question of Serre.