The units-Picard complex and the Brauer group of a product

We introduce the relative units-Picard complex of an arbitrary morphism of schemes and apply it to the problem of describing the (cohomological) Brauer group of a (fiber) product of schemes in terms of the Brauer groups of the factors. Under appropriate hypotheses, we obtain a five-term exact sequence involving the preceding groups which enables us to solve the indicated problem for, e.g., certain classes of varieties over a field of characteristic zero.     

The Lie theory of the Rankin-Cohen brackets and allied bi-differential operators

The Lie theoretic nature of the Rankin-Cohen brackets is here uncovered. These bilinear operations, which, among other purposes, were devised to produce a holomorphic automorphic form from any pair of such forms, are instances of SL(2,R)-equivariant holomorphic bi-differential operators on the upper half-plane. All of the latter are here characterized and explicitly obtained, by establishing their one-to-one correspondence with singular vectors in the tensor product of two sl(2,C) Verma modules. The Rankin-Cohen brackets arise in the generic situation where the linear span of the singular vectors of a given weight is one-dimensional. The picture is completed by the special brackets which appear for the finite number of pairs of initial lowest weights for which the above space is two-dimensional. Explicit formulæ for basis vectors in both situations are obtained and universal Lie algebraic objects subsuming all of them are exhibited. A few applications of these results and Lie theoretic approach are then considered. First, a generalization of the latter yields Rankin-Cohen type brackets for Hilbert modular forms. Then, some Rankin-Cohen brackets are shown to intertwine the tensor product of two holomorphic discrete series representations of SL(2,R) with another such representation occurring in the tensor product decomposition. Finally, the sought for precise relationship between the Rankin-Cohen brackets and Gordan's transvection processes of the nineteenth century invariant theory is unveiled.     

The relative Brauer group and generalized cross products for a cyclic covering of affine space

We study algebras and divisors on a normal affine hypersurface defined by an equation of the form zⁿ=f(_x1,…,_xm)$z^n=f(x_1,\dots ,x_m)$. The coordinate ring is T=k[_x1,…,_xm,z]/(zⁿ−f)$T=k[x_1,\dots ,x_m,z]/(z^n-f)$, and if R=k[_x1,…,_xm][f⁻¹]$R=k[x_1,\dots ,x_m]\left[f^{-1}\right]$ and S=R[z]/(zⁿ−f)$S=R\left[z\right]/(z^n-f)$, then S$S$ is a cyclic Galois extension of R$R$. We show that if the Galois group is G$G$, the natural map H¹(G,Cl(T))→H¹(G,Pic(S))$H^1(G,Cl\left(T\right))\to H^1(G,Pic\left(S\right))$ factors through the relative Brauer group B(S/R)$B(S/R)$ and that all of the maps are onto. Sufficient conditions are given for H¹(G,Cl(T))$H^1(G,Cl\left(T\right))$ to be isomorphic to B(S/R)$B(S/R)$. As an example, all of the groups, maps, divisors and algebras are computed for an affine surface defined by an equation of the form zⁿ=(y−_a1x)?(y−_anx)(x−1)$z^n=(y-a_{1}x)?(y-a_{n}x)(x-1)$.     

On the notion of canonical dimension for algebraic groups

We define and study a numerical invariant of an algebraic group action which we call the canonical dimension. We then apply the resulting theory to the problem of computing the minimal number of parameters required to define a generic hypersurface of degree d in P^n-1.     

On the supremum of the pseudocompact group topologies

P is the class of pseudocompact Hausdorff topological groups, and P^′ is the class of groups which admit a topology T such that (G,T)∈P. It is known that every G=(G,T)∈P is totally bounded, so for G∈P^′ the supremum T^∨(G) of all pseudocompact group topologies on G and the supremum T#(G) of all totally bounded group topologies on G satisfy T^∨⊆T#.The authors conjecture for abelian G∈P^′ that T^∨=T#. That equality is established here for abelian G∈P^′ with any of these (overlapping) properties. (a) G is a torsion group; (b) |G|?c²; (c) r₀(G)=|G|=ω|G|; (d) |G| is a strong limit cardinal, and r₀(G)=|G|; (e) some topology T with (G,T)∈P satisfies w(G,T)?c; (f) some pseudocompact group topology on G is metrizable; (g) G admits a compact group topology, and r₀(G)=|G|. Furthermore, the product of finitely many abelian G∈P^′, each with the property T^∨(G)=T#(G), has the same property.     

Arithmetic expressions of Selberg's zeta functions for congruence subgroups

In [P. Sarnak, Class numbers of indefinite binary quadratic forms, J. Number Theory 15 (1982) 229-247], it was proved that the Selberg zeta function for SL₂(Z) is expressed in terms of the fundamental units and the class numbers of the primitive indefinite binary quadratic forms. The aim of this paper is to obtain similar arithmetic expressions of the logarithmic derivatives of the Selberg zeta functions for congruence subgroups of SL₂(Z). As applications, we study the Brun-Titchmarsh type prime geodesic theorem and the asymptotic formula of the sum of the class number.     

On the Brauer group of the product of a torus and a semisimple algebraic group

Let T be a torus (not assumed to be split) over a field F, and denote by nH _et ² (X,{ie375-1}) the subgroup of elements of the exponent dividing n in the cohomological Brauer group of a scheme X over the field F. We provide conditions on X and n for which the pull-back homomorphism nH _et ² (T,{ie375-2}) → _n H _et ² (X × _F T, {ie375-3}) is an isomorphism. We apply this to compute the Brauer group of some reductive groups and of non-singular affine quadrics. Apart from this, we investigate the p-torsion of the Azumaya algebra defined Brauer group of a regular affine scheme over a field F of characteristic p > 0.     

Non-nested configuration of algebraic limit cycles in quadratic systems

This work deals with algebraic limit cycles of planar polynomial differential systems of degree two. More concretely, we show among other facts that a quadratic vector field cannot possess two non-nested algebraic limit cycles contained in different irreducible invariant algebraic curves.     

On the curvature of algebraic hypersurfaces

Using algebraic residue theory, we try to generalize a theorem of Chasles about osculating circles of plane algebraic curves to algebraic hypersurfaces over algebraically closed fields of characteristic zero.     

A local-global principle for the telescope conjecture

We prove an étale local-global principle for the telescope conjecture and use it to show that the telescope conjecture holds for derived categories of Azumaya algebras on noetherian schemes as well as for many classifying stacks and gerbes. This specializes to give another proof of the fact that the telescope conjecture holds for noetherian schemes.     

Asymptotic cone of semisimple orbits for symmetric pairs

Let G be a reductive algebraic group over C and denote its Lie algebra by g. Let Oh be a closed G-orbit through a semisimple element h∈g. By a result of Borho and Kraft (1979) [4], it is known that the asymptotic cone of the orbit Oh is the closure of a Richardson nilpotent orbit corresponding to a parabolic subgroup whose Levi component is the centralizer ZG(h) in G. In this paper, we prove an analogue on a semisimple orbit for a symmetric pair.More precisely, let θ be an involution of G, and K=Gθ a fixed point subgroup of θ. Then we have a Cartan decomposition g=k+s of the Lie algebra g=Lie(G) which is the eigenspace decomposition of θ on g. Let {x,h,y} be a normal sl₂ triple, where x,y∈s are nilpotent, and h∈k semisimple. In addition, we assume , where denotes the complex conjugation which commutes with θ. Then is a semisimple element in s, and we can consider a semisimple orbit Ad(K)a in s, which is closed. Our main result asserts that the asymptotic cone of Ad(K)a in s coincides with , if x is even nilpotent.     

The relative Brauer group of a cyclic cover of affine space

We study the finite-dimensional central division algebras over the rational function field in several variables over an algebraically closed field. We describe the division algebras that are split by the cyclic covering obtained by adjoining the nth root of a polynomial. The relative Brauer group is described in terms of the Picard group of the cyclic covering and its Galois group. Many examples are given and in most cases division algebras are presented that represent generators of the relative Brauer group.     

Effectivity of Brauer-Manin obstructions

We study Brauer-Manin obstructions to the Hasse principle and to weak approximation, with special regard to effectivity questions.     

The determination of integral closures and geometric applications

We express explicitly the integral closures of some ring extensions; this is done for all Bring-Jerrard extensions of any degree as well as for all general extensions of degree ?5; so far such an explicit expression is known only for degree ?3 extensions. As a geometric application, we present explicitly the structure sheaf of every Bring-Jerrard covering space in terms of coefficients of the equation defining the covering; in particular, we show that a degree-3 morphism π:Y→X is quasi-etale if and only if is trivial (details in Theorem 5.3). We also try to get a geometric Galoisness criterion for an arbitrary degree-n finite morphism; this is successfully done when n=3 and less satisfactorily done when n=5.     

On some cubic or quartic algebraic units

Let ? be an algebraic unit such that rank of the unit group of the order Z[?] is equal to one. It is natural to ask whether ? is a fundamental unit of this order. To prove this result, we showed that it suffices to find explicit positive constants c₁, c₂ and c₃ such that for any such ? it holds that c₁c₂|?|?d??c₃|?|^2c₂, where d? denotes the absolute value of the discriminant of ?, i.e. of the discriminant of its minimal polynomial. We give a proof of this result, simpler than the original ones.     

Metrizable refinements of group topologies and the pseudo-intersection number

The pseudo-intersection number, denoted p, is the minimum cardinality of a family A⊆P(ω) having the strong finite intersection property but no infinite pseudo-intersection. For every countable topologizable group G, let pG denote the minimum character of a nondiscrete Hausdorff group topology on G which cannot be refined to a nondiscrete metrizable group topology. We show that pG=p.     

A note on separation of algebraic sets and the ?ojasiewicz exponent for polynomial mappings

In the paper a global separation problem for affine algebraic sets is considered. As application an upper bound for the distance of the graph of polynomial mapping to its zero set in the form of a ?ojasiewicz inequality is given.