Several authors have studied homomorphisms from first homology groups of modular curves to $K_2(X)$, with $X$ either a cyclotomic ring or a modular curve. These maps send Manin symbols in the homology groups to Steinberg symbols of cyclotomic or Siegel units. We give a new construction of these maps and a direct proof of their Hecke equivariance, analogous to the construction of Siegel units using the universal elliptic curve. Our main tool is a $1$-cocycle from $\mathrm {GL}_2(\mathbb {Z})$ to the second $K$-group of the function field of a suitable group scheme over $X$, from which the maps of interest arise by specialization.

In 1988, Haagerup and Størmer conjectured that every pointwise inner automorphism of a type ${\rm III_1}$ factor is a composition of an inner and a modular automorphism. We study this conjecture and prove that every type ${\rm III_1}$ factor with trivial bicentralizer indeed satisfies this condition. In particular, this shows that Haagerup and Størmer's conjecture holds in full generality if Connes’ bicentralizer problem has an affirmative answer. Our proof is based on Popa's intertwining theory and Marrakchi's recent work on relative bicentralizers.

We show that a virtually residually finite rationally solvable (RFRS) group $G$ of type $\mathtt {FP}_n(\mathbb {Q})$ virtually algebraically fibres with kernel of type $\mathtt {FP}_n(\mathbb {Q})$ if and only if the first $n$ $\ell ^2$-Betti numbers of $G$ vanish, that is, $b_p^{(2)}(G) = 0$ for $0 \leqslant p \leqslant n$. This confirms a conjecture of Kielak. We also offer a variant of this result over other fields, in particular in positive characteristic. As an application of the main result, we show that amenable virtually RFRS groups of type $\mathtt {FP}(\mathbb {Q})$ are virtually Abelian. It then follows that if $G$ is a virtually RFRS group of type $\mathtt {FP}(\mathbb {Q})$ such that $\mathbb {Z} G$ is Noetherian, then $G$ is virtually Abelian. This confirms a conjecture of Baer for the class of virtually RFRS groups of type $\mathtt {FP}(\mathbb {Q})$, which includes (for instance) the class of virtually compact special groups.

The loop space of a string manifold supports an infinite-dimensional Fock space bundle, which is an analog of the spinor bundle on a spin manifold. This spinor bundle on loop space appears in the description of two-dimensional sigma models as the bundle of states over the configuration space of the superstring. We construct a product on this bundle that covers the fusion of loops, i.e. the merging of two loops along a common segment. For this purpose, we exhibit it as a bundle of bimodules over a certain von Neumann algebra bundle, and realize our product fibrewise using the Connes fusion of von Neumann bimodules. Our main technique is to establish novel relations between string structures, loop fusion, and the Connes fusion of Fock spaces. The fusion product on the spinor bundle on loop space was proposed by Stolz and Teichner as part of a programme to explore the relation between generalized cohomology theories, functorial field theories, and index theory. It is related to the pair of pants worldsheet of the superstring, to the extension of the corresponding smooth functorial field theory down to the point, and to a higher-categorical bundle on the underlying string manifold, the stringor bundle.

The attractor conjecture for Calabi–Yau moduli spaces predicts the algebraicity of the moduli values of certain isolated points picked out by Hodge-theoretic conditions. Using tools from transcendence theory, we provide a family of counterexamples to the attractor conjecture in almost all odd dimensions conditional on a specific case of the Zilber–Pink conjecture in unlikely intersection theory; these Calabi–Yau manifolds were first studied by Dolgachev. We also give constructions of new families of Calabi–Yau varieties, analogous to the mirror quintic family, with all middle Hodge numbers equal to one, which would also give counterexamples to the attractor conjecture.

We introduce the notions of quasi-Laurent and Laurent families of simple modules over quiver Hecke algebras of arbitrary symmetrizable types. We prove that such a family plays a similar role of a cluster in quantum cluster algebra theory and exhibits a quantum Laurent positivity phenomenon similar to the basis of the quantum unipotent coordinate ring $\mathcal {A}_q(\mathfrak {n}(w))$, coming from the categorification. Then we show that the families of simple modules categorifying Geiß–Leclerc–Schröer (GLS) clusters are Laurent families by using the Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt (PBW) decomposition vector of a simple module $X$ and categorical interpretation of (co)degree of $[X]$. As applications of such $\mathbb {Z}\mspace {1mu}$-vectors, we define several skew-symmetric pairings on arbitrary pairs of simple modules, and investigate the relationships among the pairings and $\Lambda$-invariants of $R$-matrices in the quiver Hecke algebra theory.

We study finite orbits of non-elementary groups of automorphisms of compact projective surfaces. We prove that if the surface and the group are defined over a number field $\mathbf {k}$ and the group contains parabolic elements, then the set of finite orbits is not Zariski dense, except in certain very rigid situations, known as Kummer examples. Related results are also established when $\mathbf {k} = \mathbf {C}$. An application is given to the description of ‘canonical vector heights’ associated to such automorphism groups.

Let $G$ be a reductive group, and let $\check {G}$ be its Langlands dual group. Arkhipov and Bezrukavnikov proved that the Whittaker category on the affine flags ${\operatorname {Fl}}_G$ is equivalent to the category of $\check {G}$-equivariant quasi-coherent sheaves on the Springer resolution of the nilpotent cone. This paper proves this theorem in the quantum case. We show that the twisted Whittaker category on ${\operatorname {Fl}}_G$ and the category of representations of the mixed quantum group are equivalent. In particular, we prove that the quantum category $\mathsf {O}$ is equivalent to the twisted Whittaker category on ${\operatorname {Fl}}_G$ in the generic case. The strong version of our main theorem claims a motivic equivalence between the Whittaker category on ${\operatorname {Fl}}_G$ and a factorization module category, which holds in the de Rham setting, the Betti setting, and the $\ell$-adic setting.

We prove that any hyper-Kähler sixfold $K$ of generalized Kummer type has a naturally associated manifold $Y_K$ of $\mathrm {K}3^{[3]}$ type. It is obtained as crepant resolution of the quotient of $K$ by a group of symplectic involutions acting trivially on its second cohomology. When $K$ is projective, the variety $Y_K$ is birational to a moduli space of stable sheaves on a uniquely determined projective $\mathrm {K}3$ surface $S_K$. As an application of this construction we show that the Kuga–Satake correspondence is algebraic for the K3 surfaces $S_K$, producing infinitely many new families of $\mathrm {K}3$ surfaces of general Picard rank $16$ satisfying the Kuga–Satake Hodge conjecture.

We prove that the multiplicity of a filtration of a local ring satisfies various convexity properties. In particular, we show the multiplicity is convex along geodesics. As a consequence, we prove that the volume of a valuation is log convex on simplices of quasi-monomial valuations and give a new proof of a theorem of Xu and Zhuang on the uniqueness of normalized volume minimizers. In another direction, we generalize a theorem of Rees on multiplicities of ideals to filtrations and characterize when the Minkowski inequality for filtrations is an equality under mild assumptions.

For a partially multiplicative quandle (PMQ) ${\mathcal {Q}}$ we consider the topological monoid $\mathring {\mathrm {HM}}({\mathcal {Q}})$ of Hurwitz spaces of configurations in the plane with local monodromies in ${\mathcal {Q}}$. We compute the group completion of $\mathring {\mathrm {HM}}({\mathcal {Q}})$: it is the product of the (discrete) enveloping group ${\mathcal {G}}({\mathcal {Q}})$ with a component of the double loop space of the relative Hurwitz space $\mathrm {Hur}_+([0,1]^2,\partial [0,1]^2;{\mathcal {Q}},G)_{\mathbb {1}}$; here $G$ is any group giving rise, together with ${\mathcal {Q}}$, to a PMQ–group pair. Under the additional assumption that ${\mathcal {Q}}$ is finite and rationally Poincaré and that $G$ is finite, we compute the rational cohomology ring of $\mathrm {Hur}_+([0,1]^2,\partial [0,1]^2;{\mathcal {Q}},G)_{\mathbb {1}}$.

We introduce the notion of completed $F$-crystals on the absolute prismatic site of a smooth $p$-adic formal scheme. We define a functor from the category of completed prismatic $F$-crystals to that of crystalline étale $\mathbf {Z}_p$-local systems on the generic fiber of the formal scheme and show that it gives an equivalence of categories. This generalizes the work of Bhatt and Scholze, which treats the case of a mixed characteristic complete discrete valuation ring with perfect residue field.

We construct the first examples of infinite sharply 2-transitive groups which are finitely generated. Moreover, we construct such a group that has Kazhdan property (T), is simple, has exactly four conjugacy classes and we show that this number is as small as possible.

We prove that after inverting the Planck constant $h$, the Bezrukavnikov–Kaledin quantization $(X, {\mathcal {O}}_h)$ of symplectic variety $X$ in characteristic $p$ with $H^2(X, {\mathcal {O}}_X) =0$ is Morita equivalent to a certain central reduction of the algebra of differential operators on $X$.

Fix a prime $p\geq 11$. We show that there exists a positive integer $m$ such that any subset of $\mathbb {F}_p^n\times \mathbb {F}_p^n$ containing no nontrivial configurations of the form $(x,y)$, $(x,y+z)$, $(x,y+2z)$, $(x+z,y)$ must have density $\ll 1/\log _{m}{n}$, where $\log _{m}$ denotes the $m$-fold iterated logarithm. This gives the first reasonable bound in the multidimensional Szemerédi theorem for a two-dimensional four-point configuration in any setting.

A set $S\subset {\mathbb {N}}$ is a Sidon set if all pairwise sums $s_1+s_2$ (for $s_1, s_2\in S$, $s_1\leqslant s_2$) are distinct. A set $S\subset {\mathbb {N}}$ is an asymptotic basis of order 3 if every sufficiently large integer $n$ can be written as the sum of three elements of $S$. In 1993, Erdős, Sárközy and Sós asked whether there exists a set $S$ with both properties. We answer this question in the affirmative. Our proof relies on a deep result of Sawin on the $\mathbb {F}_q[t]$-analogue of Montgomery's conjecture for convolutions of the von Mangoldt function.

We categorify the inclusion–exclusion principle for partially ordered topological spaces and schemes to a filtration on the derived category of sheaves. As a consequence, we obtain functorial spectral sequences that generalize the two spectral sequences of a stratified space and certain Vassiliev-type spectral sequences; we also obtain Euler characteristic analogs in the Grothendieck ring of varieties. As an application, we give an algebro-geometric proof of Vakil and Wood's homological stability conjecture for the space of smooth hypersurface sections of a smooth projective variety. In characteristic zero this conjecture was previously established by Aumonier via topological methods.

In this paper, we present a solution to the problem of the analytic classification of germs of plane curves with several irreducible components. Our algebraic approach follows precursive ideas of Oscar Zariski and as a subproduct allows us to recover some particular cases found in the literature.