For a closed d-dimensional subvariety X of an abelian variety A and a canonically metrized line bundle L on A, Chambert-Loir has introduced measures c1(L∣X)∧d on the Berkovich analytic space associated to A with respect to the discrete valuation of the ground field. In this paper, we give an explicit description of these canonical measures in terms of convex geometry. We use a generalization of the tropicalization related to the Raynaud extension of A and Mumford’s construction. The results have applications to the equidistribution of small points.

Let k be a complete, non-Archimedean valued field (the trivial absolute value is allowed) and let φ:X→Y be a morphism between two Berkovich k-analytic spaces; we show that, for any integer n, the set of points of X at which the local dimension of φ is at least equal to n is a Zariski-closed subset of X. In order to establish it, we first prove an analytic analogue of Zariski’s Main Theorem, and we also introduce, and study, the notion of an analytic system of parameters at a point.

Let k be a local field with residue characteristic p. Let n be a prime-to-p integer. Consider a smooth, irreducible k-curve X. In this article, we study the subgroup of H3(k(X), μn[otimes]2) consisting of classes which are unramified on X. It is known to be isomorphic to H0(XZar, R3π*μn[otimes]2), where π: Xét → XZar is the canonical map. A purely topological description of this group is given, using the Berkovich analytification Xan of X. More precisely, denote by Y a smooth and irreducible Berkovich-analytic k-curve, by Ytop the underlying topological space, by Yét the étale-analytic site and by πan the canonical map Yét → Ytop. Let Δ be the skeleton of Y (it is a closed subset defined by Berkovich which is locally a finite graph). Then we show (th. 42) that H0(Ytop, R3πan*μn[otimes]2) is naturally isomorphic (through sort of a pointwise evaluation of cohomology classes) to the group of harmonic cochains defined on Δ with values in $Bbb Z$/n. Now, if X is a smooth algebraic k-curve the natural map H0(XZar, R3π*μn[otimes]2) → H0(Xantop, R3πan*μn[otimes]2) is shown to be an isomorphism (th. 5.2). It is a new formulation (for the case where X is proper) and a generalization (to open curves) of a result which was due to Kato. Moreover we use here some steps of Kato's proof, but not his whole result. So our method gives, for projective curves, a (partially) new proof of Kato's theorem.