Given a finite group $\text{G}$ and a field $K$, the faithful dimension of $\text{G}$ over $K$ is defined to be the smallest integer $n$ such that $\text{G}$ embeds into $\operatorname{GL}_{n}(K)$. We address the problem of determining the faithful dimension of a $p$-group of the form $\mathscr{G}_{q}:=\exp (\mathfrak{g}\otimes _{\mathbb{Z}}\mathbb{F}_{q})$ associated to $\mathfrak{g}_{q}:=\mathfrak{g}\otimes _{\mathbb{Z}}\mathbb{F}_{q}$ in the Lazard correspondence, where $\mathfrak{g}$ is a nilpotent $\mathbb{Z}$-Lie algebra which is finitely generated as an abelian group. We show that in general the faithful dimension of $\mathscr{G}_{p}$ is a piecewise polynomial function of $p$ on a partition of primes into Frobenius sets. Furthermore, we prove that for $p$ sufficiently large, there exists a partition of $\mathbb{N}$ by sets from the Boolean algebra generated by arithmetic progressions, such that on each part the faithful dimension of $\mathscr{G}_{q}$ for $q:=p^{f}$ is equal to $fg(p^{f})$ for a polynomial $g(T)$. We show that for many naturally arising $p$-groups, including a vast class of groups defined by partial orders, the faithful dimension is given by a single formula of the latter form. The arguments rely on various tools from number theory, model theory, combinatorics and Lie theory.

We prove analogs of the Bezout and the Bernstein–Kushnirenko–Khovanskii theorems for systems of algebraic differential conditions over differentially closed fields. Namely, given a system of algebraic conditions on the first $l$ derivatives of an $n$-tuple of functions, which admits finitely many solutions, we show that the number of solutions is bounded by an appropriate constant (depending singly-exponentially on $n$ and $l$) times the volume of the Newton polytope of the set of conditions. This improves a doubly-exponential estimate due to Hrushovski and Pillay. We illustrate the application of our estimates in two diophantine contexts: to counting transcendental lattice points on algebraic subvarieties of semi-abelian varieties, following Hrushovski and Pillay; and to counting the number of intersections between isogeny classes of elliptic curves and algebraic varieties, following Freitag and Scanlon. In both cases we obtain bounds which are singly-exponential (improving the known doubly-exponential bounds) and which exhibit the natural asymptotic growth with respect to the degrees of the equations involved.

Consider a system of polynomials in many variables over the ring of integers of a number field $K$. We prove an asymptotic formula for the number of integral zeros of this system in homogeneously expanding boxes. As a consequence, any smooth and geometrically integral variety $X\subseteq \mathbb{P}_{K}^{m}$ satisfies the Hasse principle, weak approximation, and the Manin–Peyre conjecture if only its dimension is large enough compared to its degree. This generalizes work of Skinner, who considered the case where all polynomials have the same degree, and recent work of Browning and Heath-Brown, who considered the case where $K=\mathbb{Q}$. Our main tool is Skinner’s number field version of the Hardy–Littlewood circle method. As a by-product, we point out and correct an error in Skinner’s treatment of the singular integral.

For any number field we calculate the exact proportion of rational numbers which are everywhere locally a norm but not globally a norm from the number field.

We prove an analog of the Yomdin–Gromov lemma for $p$-adic definable sets and more broadly in a non-Archimedean definable context. This analog keeps track of piecewise approximation by Taylor polynomials, a nontrivial aspect in the totally disconnected case. We apply this result to bound the number of rational points of bounded height on the transcendental part of $p$-adic subanalytic sets, and to bound the dimension of the set of complex polynomials of bounded degree lying on an algebraic variety defined over $\mathbb{C}(\!(t)\!)$, in analogy to results by Pila and Wilkie, and by Bombieri and Pila, respectively. Along the way we prove, for definable functions in a general context of non-Archimedean geometry, that local Lipschitz continuity implies piecewise global Lipschitz continuity.

Let $ \mathcal{X} $ be a curve over ${ \mathbb{F} }_{q} $ and let $N( \mathcal{X} )$, $g( \mathcal{X} )$ be its number of rational points and genus respectively. The Ihara constant $A(q)$ is defined by $A(q)= {\mathrm{lim~sup} }_{g( \mathcal{X} )\rightarrow \infty } N( \mathcal{X} )/ g( \mathcal{X} )$. In this paper, we employ a variant of Serre’s class field tower method to obtain an improvement of the best known lower bounds on $A(2)$ and $A(3)$.

For any integers $d,n \geq 2$, let $X \subset \mathbb{P}^{n}$ be a non-singular hypersurface of degree $d$ that is defined over the rational numbers. The main result in this paper is a proof that the number of rational points on $X$ which have height at most $B$ is $O(B^{n - 1 + \varepsilon})$, for any $\varepsilon > 0$. The implied constant in this estimate depends at most upon $d$, $\varepsilon$ and $n$.

For any $n \geq 3$, let $F \in \mathbb{Z}[X_0,\ldots,X_n]$ be a form of degree $d\geq 5$ that defines a non-singular hypersurface $X \subset \mathbb{P}^{n}$. The main result in this paper is a proof of the fact that the number $N(F;B)$ of $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points on $X$ which have height at most $B$ satisfies $N(F;B)=O_{d,\varepsilon,n}(B^{n-1+\varepsilon}),$ for any $\varepsilon >0$. The implied constant in this estimate depends at most upon $d$, $\varepsilon$ and $n$. New estimates are also obtained for the number of representations of a positive integer as the sum of three $d$th powers, and for the paucity of integer solutions to equal sums of like polynomials.