Let f be an $L^2$-normalized holomorphic newform of weight k on $\Gamma _0(N) \backslash \mathbb {H}$ with N squarefree or, more generally, on any hyperbolic surface $\Gamma \backslash \mathbb {H}$ attached to an Eichler order of squarefree level in an indefinite quaternion algebra over $\mathbb {Q}$. Denote by V the hyperbolic volume of said surface. We prove the sup-norm estimate

$$\begin{align*}\| \Im(\cdot)^{\frac{k}{2}} f \|_{\infty} \ll_{\varepsilon} (k V)^{\frac{1}{4}+\varepsilon} \end{align*}$$

with absolute implied constant. For a cuspidal Maaß newform $\varphi $ of eigenvalue $\lambda $ on such a surface, we prove that

$$\begin{align*}\|\varphi \|_{\infty} \ll_{\lambda,\varepsilon} V^{\frac{1}{4}+\varepsilon}. \end{align*}$$

We establish analogous estimates in the setting of definite quaternion algebras.

In his work on modularity of elliptic curves and Fermat’s last theorem, A. Wiles introduced two measures of congruences between Galois representations and between modular forms. One measure is related to the order of a Selmer group associated to a newform $f \in S_2(\Gamma _0(N))$ (and closely linked to deformations of the Galois representation $\rho _f$ associated to f), whilst the other measure is related to the congruence module associated to f (and is closely linked to Hecke rings and congruences between f and other newforms in $S_2(\Gamma _0(N))$). The equality of these two measures led to isomorphisms $R={\mathbf T}$ between deformation rings and Hecke rings (via a numerical criterion for isomorphisms that Wiles proved) and showed these rings to be complete intersections.

We continue our study begun in [BKM21] of the Wiles defect of deformation rings and Hecke rings (at a newform f) acting on the cohomology of Shimura curves over ${\mathbf Q}$: It is defined to be the difference between these two measures of congruences. The Wiles defect thus arises from the failure of the Wiles numerical criterion at an augmentation $\lambda _f:{\mathbf T} \to {\mathcal O}$. In situations we study here, the Taylor–Wiles–Kisin patching method gives an isomorphism $ R={\mathbf T}$ without the rings being complete intersections. Using novel arguments in commutative algebra and patching, we generalize significantly and give different proofs of the results in [BKM21] that compute the Wiles defect at $\lambda _f: R={\mathbf T} \to {\mathcal O}$, and explain in an a priori manner why the answer in [BKM21] is a sum of local defects. As a curious application of our work we give a new and more robust approach to the result of Ribet–Takahashi that computes change of degrees of optimal parametrizations of elliptic curves over ${\mathbf Q}$ by Shimura curves as we vary the Shimura curve. The results we prove are not attainable using only the methods of Ribet–Takahashi.

Let $X$ be a smooth geometrically connected projective curve over the field of fractions of a discrete valuation ring $R$, and $\mathfrak {m}$ a modulus on $X$, given by a closed subscheme of $X$ which is geometrically reduced. The generalized Jacobian $J_\mathfrak {m}$ of $X$ with respect to $\mathfrak {m}$ is then an extension of the Jacobian of $X$ by a torus. We describe its Néron model, together with the character and component groups of the special fibre, in terms of a regular model of $X$ over $R$. This generalizes Raynaud's well-known description for the usual Jacobian. We also give some computations for generalized Jacobians of modular curves $X_0(N)$ with moduli supported on the cusps.

Irregular cusps of an orthogonal modular variety are cusps where the lattice for Fourier expansion is strictly smaller than the lattice of translation. The presence of such a cusp affects the study of pluricanonical forms on the modular variety using modular forms. We study toroidal compactification over an irregular cusp, and clarify there the cusp form criterion for the calculation of Kodaira dimension. At the same time, we show that irregular cusps do not arise frequently: besides the cases when the group is neat or contains $-1$, we prove that the stable orthogonal groups of most (but not all) even lattices have no irregular cusp.

We axiomatise the algebraic properties of toroidal compactifications of (mixed) Shimura varieties and their automorphic vector bundles. A notion of generalised automorphic sheaf is proposed which includes sheaves of (meromorphic) sections of automorphic vector bundles with prescribed vanishing and pole orders along strata in the compactification, and their quotients. These include, for instance, sheaves of Jacobi forms and weakly holomorphic modular forms. Using this machinery, we give a short and purely algebraic proof of the proportionality theorem of Hirzebruch and Mumford.

We study the étale cohomology of Hilbert modular varieties, building on the methods introduced by Caraiani and Scholze for unitary Shimura varieties. We obtain the analogous vanishing theorem: in the ‘generic’ case, the cohomology with torsion coefficients is concentrated in the middle degree. We also probe the structure of the cohomology beyond the generic case, obtaining bounds on the range of degrees where cohomology with torsion coefficients can be non-zero. The proof is based on the geometric Jacquet–Langlands functoriality established by Tian and Xiao and avoids trace formula computations for the cohomology of Igusa varieties. As an application, we show that, when $p$ splits completely in the totally real field and under certain technical assumptions, the $p$-adic local Langlands correspondence for $\mathrm {GL}_2(\mathbb {Q}_p)$ occurs in the completed homology of Hilbert modular varieties.

For an unramified reductive group, we determine the connected components of affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties in the affine flag variety. Based on work of Hamacher, Kim, and Zhou, this result allows us to verify, in the unramified group case, the He–Rapoport axioms, the almost product structure of Newton strata, and the precise description of isogeny classes predicted by the Langlands–Rapoport conjecture, for the Kisin–Pappas integral models of Shimura varieties of Hodge type with parahoric level structure.

In this paper, we propose a modified Kudla–Rapoport conjecture for the Krämer model of unitary Rapoport–Zink space at a ramified prime, which is a precise identity relating intersection numbers of special cycles to derivatives of Hermitian local density polynomials. We also introduce the notion of special difference cycles, which has surprisingly simple description. Combining this with induction formulas of Hermitian local density polynomials, we prove the modified Kudla–Rapoport conjecture when $n=3$. Our conjecture, combining with known results at inert and infinite primes, implies the arithmetic Siegel–Weil formula for all non-singular coefficients when the level structure of the corresponding unitary Shimura variety is defined by a self-dual lattice.

We construct an anticyclotomic Euler system for the Rankin–Selberg convolutions of two modular forms, using p-adic families of generalised Gross–Kudla–Schoen diagonal cycles. As applications of this construction, we prove new results on the Bloch–Kato conjecture in analytic ranks zero and one, and a divisibility towards an Iwasawa main conjecture.

We give a new proof of Faltings's $p$-adic Eichler–Shimura decomposition of the modular curves via Bernstein–Gelfand–Gelfand (BGG) methods and the Hodge–Tate period map. The key property is the relation between the Tate module and the Faltings extension, which was used in the original proof. Then we construct overconvergent Eichler–Shimura maps for the modular curves providing ‘the second half’ of the overconvergent Eichler–Shimura map of Andreatta, Iovita and Stevens. We use higher Coleman theory on the modular curve developed by Boxer and Pilloni to show that the small-slope part of the Eichler–Shimura maps interpolates the classical $p$-adic Eichler–Shimura decompositions. Finally, we prove that overconvergent Eichler–Shimura maps are compatible with Poincaré and Serre pairings.

Romyar Sharifi has constructed a map $\varpi _M$ from the first homology of the modular curve $X_1(M)$ to the K-group $K_2(\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {Z}}}[\zeta _M+\zeta _M^{-1}, \frac {1}{M}]) \otimes \operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {Z}}}[1/2]$, where $\zeta _M$ is a primitive Mth root of unity. Sharifi conjectured that $\varpi _M$ is annihilated by a certain Eisenstein ideal. Fukaya and Kato proved this conjecture after tensoring with $\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathbf {Z}}}_p$ for a prime $p\geq 5$ dividing M. More recently, Sharifi and Venkatesh proved the conjecture for Hecke operators away from M. In this note, we prove two main results. First, we give a relation between $\varpi _M$ and $\varpi _{M'}$ when $M' \mid M$. Our method relies on the techniques developed by Sharifi and Venkatesh. We then use this result in combination with results of Fukaya and Kato in order to get the Eisenstein property of $\varpi _M$ for Hecke operators of index dividing M.

Motivated by the desire to understand the geometry of the basic loci in the reduction of Shimura varieties, we study their “group-theoretic models”—generalized affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties—in cases where they have a particularly nice description. Continuing the work of Görtz and He (2015, Cambridge Journal of Mathematics 3, 323–353) and Görtz, He, and Nie (2019, Peking Mathematical Journal 2, 99–154), we single out the class of cases of Coxeter type, give a characterization in terms of the dimension, and obtain a complete classification. We also discuss known, new, and open cases from the point of view of Shimura varieties/Rapoport–Zink spaces.

We discuss the $\ell $ -adic case of Mazur’s ‘Program B’ over $\mathbb {Q}$ : the problem of classifying the possible images of $\ell $ -adic Galois representations attached to elliptic curves E over $\mathbb {Q}$ , equivalently, classifying the rational points on the corresponding modular curves. The primes $\ell =2$ and $\ell \ge 13$ are addressed by prior work, so we focus on the remaining primes $\ell = 3, 5, 7, 11$ . For each of these $\ell $ , we compute the directed graph of arithmetically maximal $\ell $ -power level modular curves $X_H$ , compute explicit equations for all but three of them and classify the rational points on all of them except $X_{\mathrm {ns}}^{+}(N)$ , for $N = 27, 25, 49, 121$ and two-level $49$ curves of genus $9$ whose Jacobians have analytic rank $9$ .

Aside from the $\ell $ -adic images that are known to arise for infinitely many ${\overline {\mathbb {Q}}}$ -isomorphism classes of elliptic curves $E/\mathbb {Q}$ , we find only 22 exceptional images that arise for any prime $\ell $ and any $E/\mathbb {Q}$ without complex multiplication; these exceptional images are realised by 20 non-CM rational j-invariants. We conjecture that this list of 22 exceptional images is complete and show that any counterexamples must arise from unexpected rational points on $X_{\mathrm {ns}}^+(\ell )$ with $\ell \ge 19$ , or one of the six modular curves noted above. This yields a very efficient algorithm to compute the $\ell $ -adic images of Galois for any elliptic curve over $\mathbb {Q}$ .

In an appendix with John Voight, we generalise Ribet’s observation that simple abelian varieties attached to newforms on $\Gamma _1(N)$ are of $\operatorname {GL}_2$ -type; this extends Kolyvagin’s theorem that analytic rank zero implies algebraic rank zero to isogeny factors of the Jacobian of $X_H$ .

We use the method of Bruinier–Raum to show that symmetric formal Fourier–Jacobi series, in the cases of norm-Euclidean imaginary quadratic fields, are Hermitian modular forms. Consequently, combining a theorem of Yifeng Liu, we deduce Kudla’s conjecture on the modularity of generating series of special cycles of arbitrary codimension for unitary Shimura varieties defined in these cases.

We consider Shimura varieties for orthogonal or spin groups acting on hermitian symmetric domains of type IV. We give regular $p$-adic integral models for these varieties over odd primes $p$ at which the level subgroup is the connected stabilizer of a vertex lattice in the orthogonal space. Our construction is obtained by combining results of Kisin and the first author with an explicit presentation and resolution of a corresponding local model.

Let $X/\mathbb {F}_{q}$ be a smooth, geometrically connected, quasi-projective scheme. Let $\mathcal {E}$ be a semi-simple overconvergent $F$-isocrystal on $X$. Suppose that irreducible summands $\mathcal {E}_i$ of $\mathcal {E}$ have rank 2, determinant $\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_p(-1)$, and infinite monodromy at $\infty$. Suppose further that for each closed point $x$ of $X$, the characteristic polynomial of $\mathcal {E}$ at $x$ is in $\mathbb {Q}[t]\subset \mathbb {Q}_p[t]$. Then there exists a dense open subset $U\subset X$ such that $\mathcal {E}|_U$ comes from a family of abelian varieties on $U$. As an application, let $L_1$ be an irreducible lisse $\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l$ sheaf on $X$ that has rank 2, determinant $\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l(-1)$, and infinite monodromy at $\infty$. Then all crystalline companions to $L_1$ exist (as predicted by Deligne's crystalline companions conjecture) if and only if there exist a dense open subset $U\subset X$ and an abelian scheme $\pi _U\colon A_U\rightarrow U$ such that $L_1|_U$ is a summand of $R^{1}(\pi _U)_*\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l$.

Let${\mathbb M}$ be an affine variety equipped with a foliation, both defined over a number field ${\mathbb K}$. For an algebraic $V\subset {\mathbb M}$ over ${\mathbb K}$, write $\delta _{V}$ for the maximum of the degree and log-height of V. Write $\Sigma _{V}$ for the points where the leaves intersect V improperly. Fix a compact subset ${\mathcal B}$ of a leaf ${\mathcal L}$. We prove effective bounds on the geometry of the intersection ${\mathcal B}\cap V$. In particular, when $\operatorname {codim} V=\dim {\mathcal L}$ we prove that $\#({\mathcal B}\cap V)$ is bounded by a polynomial in $\delta _{V}$ and $\log \operatorname {dist}^{-1}({\mathcal B},\Sigma _{V})$. Using these bounds we prove a result on the interpolation of algebraic points in images of ${\mathcal B}\cap V$ by an algebraic map $\Phi $. For instance, under suitable conditions we show that $\Phi ({\mathcal B}\cap V)$ contains at most $\operatorname {poly}(g,h)$ algebraic points of log-height h and degree g.

We deduce several results in Diophantine geometry. Following Masser and Zannier, we prove that given a pair of sections $P,Q$ of a nonisotrivial family of squares of elliptic curves that do not satisfy a constant relation, whenever $P,Q$ are simultaneously torsion their order of torsion is bounded effectively by a polynomial in $\delta _{P},\delta _{Q}$; in particular, the set of such simultaneous torsion points is effectively computable in polynomial time. Following Pila, we prove that given $V\subset {\mathbb C}^{n}$, there is an (ineffective) upper bound, polynomial in $\delta _{V}$, for the degrees and discriminants of maximal special subvarieties; in particular, it follows that the André–Oort conjecture for powers of the modular curve is decidable in polynomial time (by an algorithm depending on a universal, ineffective Siegel constant). Following Schmidt, we show that our counting result implies a Galois-orbit lower bound for torsion points on elliptic curves of the type previously obtained using transcendence methods by David.

In this article we study integral models of Shimura varieties, called Pappas–Rapoport splitting model, for ramified P.E.L. Shimira data. We study the special fiber and some stratification of these models, in particular we show that these are smooth and the Rapoport locus and the $\mu $-ordinary locus are dense, under some condition on the ramification.

We carry out a thorough study of weight-shifting operators on Hilbert modular forms in characteristic p, generalising the author’s prior work with Sasaki to the case where p is ramified in the totally real field. In particular, we use the partial Hasse invariants and Kodaira–Spencer filtrations defined by Reduzzi and Xiao to improve on Andreatta and Goren’s construction of partial $\Theta $ -operators, obtaining ones whose effect on weights is optimal from the point of view of geometric Serre weight conjectures. Furthermore, we describe the kernels of partial $\Theta $ -operators in terms of images of geometrically constructed partial Frobenius operators. Finally, we apply our results to prove a partial positivity result for minimal weights of mod p Hilbert modular forms.

Consider the algebraic function $\Phi _{g,n}$ that assigns to a general $g$-dimensional abelian variety an $n$-torsion point. A question first posed by Klein asks: What is the minimal $d$ such that, after a rational change of variables, the function $\Phi _{g,n}$ can be written as an algebraic function of $d$ variables? Using techniques from the deformation theory of $p$-divisible groups and finite flat group schemes, we answer this question by computing the essential dimension and $p$-dimension of congruence covers of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties. We apply this result to compute the essential $p$-dimension of congruence covers of the moduli space of genus $g$ curves, as well as its hyperelliptic locus, and of certain locally symmetric varieties. These results include cases where the locally symmetric variety $M$ is proper. As far as we know, these are the first examples of nontrivial lower bounds on the essential dimension of an unramified, nonabelian covering of a proper algebraic variety.