The enumerative geometry of surfaces and modular forms

Let be a surface, and let be a holomorphic curve in representing a primitive homology class. We count the number of curves of geometric genus with nodes passing through generic points in in the linear system for any and satisfying .

When , this coincides with the enumerative problem studied by Yau and Zaslow who obtained a conjectural generating function for the numbers. Recently, Göttsche has generalized their conjecture to arbitrary in terms of quasi-modular forms. We prove these formulas using Gromov-Witten invariants for families, a degeneration argument, and an obstruction bundle computation. Our methods also apply to blown up at 9 points where we show that the ordinary Gromov-Witten invariants of genus constrained to points are also given in terms of quasi-modular forms.     

The essentially tame local Langlands correspondence, I

Let be a non-Archimedean local field (of characteristic or ) with finite residue field of characteristic . An irreducible smooth representation of the Weil group of is called essentially tame if its restriction to wild inertia is a sum of characters. The set of isomorphism classes of irreducible, essentially tame representations of dimension is denoted . The Langlands correspondence induces a bijection of with a certain set of irreducible supercuspidal representations of . We consider the set of isomorphism classes of certain pairs , called ``admissible', consisting of a tamely ramified field extension of degree and a quasicharacter of . There is an obvious bijection of with . Using the classification of supercuspidal representations and tame lifting, we construct directly a canonical bijection of with , generalizing and simplifying a construction of Howe (1977). Together, these maps give a canonical bijection of with . We show that one obtains the Langlands correspondence by composing the map with a permutation of of the form , where is a tamely ramified character of depending on . This answers a question of Moy (1986). We calculate the character in the case where is totally ramified of odd degree.

     

Pythagoras numbers of fields

A field of characteristic is said to have finite Pythagoras number if there exists an integer such that each nonzero sum of squares in can be written as a sum of squares, in which case the Pythagoras number of is defined to be the least such integer. As a consequence of Pfister's results on the level of fields, of a nonformally real field is always of the form or , and all integers of such type can be realized as Pythagoras numbers of nonformally real fields. Prestel showed that values of the form , , and can always be realized as Pythagoras numbers of formally real fields. We will show that in fact to every integer there exists a formally real field with . As a refinement, we will show that if and are integers such that , then there exists a uniquely ordered field with and (resp. ), where (resp. ) denotes the supremum of the dimensions of anisotropic forms over which are torsion in the Witt ring of (resp. which are indefinite with respect to each ordering on ).

     

Compatibility of local and global Langlands correspondences

We prove the compatibility of local and global Langlands correspondences for , which was proved up to semisimplification in M. Harris and R. Taylor, The Geometry and Cohomology of Some Simple Shimura Varieties, Ann. of Math. Studies 151, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton-Oxford, 2001. More precisely, for the -dimensional -adic representation of the Galois group of an imaginary CM-field attached to a conjugate self-dual regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representation of , which is square integrable at some finite place, we show that Frobenius semisimplification of the restriction of to the decomposition group of a place of not dividing corresponds to by the local Langlands correspondence. If is square integrable for some finite place we deduce that is irreducible. We also obtain conditional results in the case .

     

On the equation and application to control of phases

The main result is the following. Let be a bounded Lipschitz domain in , . Then for every with , there exists a solution of the equation div in , satisfying in addition on and the estimate

where depends only on . However one cannot choose depending linearly on .

Our proof is constructive, but nonlinear--which is quite surprising for such an elementary linear PDE. When there is a simpler proof by duality--hence nonconstructive.

     

On the size of -fold sum and product sets of integers

In this paper, we show that for all 1$"> there is a positive integer such that if is an arbitrary finite set of integers, 2$">, then either N^{b}$"> or N^{b}$">. Here (resp. ) denotes the -fold sum (resp. product) of . This fact is deduced from the following harmonic analysis result obtained in the paper. For all 2$"> and 0$">, there is a 0$"> such that if satisfies , then the -constant of (in the sense of W. Rudin) is at most .

     

Parametrization of local CR automorphisms by finite jets and applications

For any real-analytic hypersurface , which does not contain any complex-analytic subvariety of positive dimension, we show that for every point the local real-analytic CR automorphisms of fixing can be parametrized real-analytically by their jets at . As a direct application, we derive a Lie group structure for the topological group . Furthermore, we also show that the order of the jet space in which the group embeds can be chosen to depend upper-semicontinuously on . As a first consequence, it follows that given any compact real-analytic hypersurface in , there exists an integer depending only on such that for every point germs at of CR diffeomorphisms mapping into another real-analytic hypersurface in are uniquely determined by their -jet at that point. Another consequence is the following boundary version of H. Cartan's uniqueness theorem: given any bounded domain with smooth real-analytic boundary, there exists an integer depending only on such that if is a proper holomorphic mapping extending smoothly up to near some point with the same -jet at with that of the identity mapping, then necessarily .

Our parametrization theorem also holds for the stability group of any essentially finite minimal real-analytic CR manifold of arbitrary codimension. One of the new main tools developed in the paper, which may be of independent interest, is a parametrization theorem for invertible solutions of a certain kind of singular analytic equations, which roughly speaking consists of inverting certain families of parametrized maps with singularities.

     

The McKay correspondence as an equivalence of derived categories

Let be a finite group of automorphisms of a nonsingular three-dimensional complex variety , whose canonical bundle is locally trivial as a -sheaf. We prove that the Hilbert scheme parametrising -clusters in is a crepant resolution of and that there is a derived equivalence (Fourier-Mukai transform) between coherent sheaves on and coherent -sheaves on . This identifies the K theory of with the equivariant K theory of , and thus generalises the classical McKay correspondence. Some higher-dimensional extensions are possible.

     

Regularity of the free boundary for the porous medium equation

We study the regularity of the free boundary for solutions of the porous medium equation , , on , with initial data nonnegative and compactly supported. We show that, under certain assumptions on the initial data , the pressure will be smooth up to the interface , when , for some . As a consequence, the free-boundary is smooth.

     

On a correspondence between cuspidal representations of

Let be an irreducible, automorphic, self-dual, cuspidal representation of , where is the adele ring of a number field . Assume that has a pole at and that . Given a nontrivial character of , we construct a nontrivial space of genuine and globally -generic cusp forms on -the metaplectic cover of . is invariant under right translations, and it contains all irreducible, automorphic, cuspidal (genuine) and -generic representations of , which lift (``functorially, with respect to ") to . We also present a local counterpart. Let be an irreducible, self-dual, supercuspidal representation of , where is a -adic field. Assume that has a pole at . Given a nontrivial character of , we construct an irreducible, supercuspidal (genuine) -generic representation of , such that has a pole at , and we prove that is the unique representation of satisfying these properties.

     

The averaging lemma

Averaging lemmas deduce smoothness of velocity averages, such as

from properties of . A canonical example is that is in the Sobolev space whenever and are in . The present paper shows how techniques from Harmonic Analysis such as maximal functions, wavelet decompositions, and interpolation can be used to prove versions of the averaging lemma. For example, it is shown that implies that is in the Besov space , . Examples are constructed using wavelet decompositions to show that these averaging lemmas are sharp. A deeper analysis of the averaging lemma is made near the endpoint .

     

Isoperimetric inequalities in crystallography

Given a cubic space group (viewed as a finite group of isometries of the torus ), we obtain sharp isoperimetric inequalities for -invariant regions. These inequalities depend on the minimum number of points in an orbit of and on the largest Euler characteristic among nonspherical -symmetric surfaces minimizing the area under volume constraint (we also give explicit estimates of this second invariant for the various crystallographic cubic groups ). As an example, we prove that any surface dividing into two equal volumes with the same (orientation-preserving) symmetries as the A. Schoen minimal Gyroid has area at least (the conjectured minimizing surface in this case is the Gyroid itself whose area is ).

     

Independence of of monodromy groups

Let be a smooth curve over a finite field of characteristic , let be a number field, and let be an -compatible system of lisse sheaves on the curve . For each place of not lying over , the -component of the system is a lisse -sheaf on , whose associated arithmetic monodromy group is an algebraic group over the local field . We use Serre's theory of Frobenius tori and Lafforgue's proof of Deligne's conjecture to show that when the -compatible system is semisimple and pure of some integer weight, the isomorphism type of the identity component of these monodromy groups is ``independent of '. More precisely, after replacing by a finite extension, there exists a connected split reductive algebraic group over the number field such that for every place of not lying over , the identity component of the arithmetic monodromy group of is isomorphic to the group with coefficients extended to the local field .

     

On the number of zero-patterns of a sequence of polynomials

Let be a sequence of polynomials of degree in variables over a field . The zero-pattern of at is the set of those ( ) for which . Let denote the number of zero-patterns of as ranges over . We prove that for and

for . For , these bounds are optimal within a factor of . The bound () improves the bound proved by J. Heintz (1983) using the dimension theory of affine varieties. Over the field of real numbers, bounds stronger than Heintz's but slightly weaker than () follow from results of J. Milnor (1964), H.E.  Warren (1968), and others; their proofs use techniques from real algebraic geometry. In contrast, our half-page proof is a simple application of the elementary ``linear algebra bound'.

Heintz applied his bound to estimate the complexity of his quantifier elimination algorithm for algebraically closed fields. We give several additional applications. The first two establish the existence of certain combinatorial objects. Our first application, motivated by the ``branching program' model in the theory of computing, asserts that over any field , most graphs with vertices have projective dimension (the implied constant is absolute). This result was previously known over the reals (Pudlák-Rödl). The second application concerns a lower bound in the span program model for computing Boolean functions. The third application, motivated by a paper by N. Alon, gives nearly tight Ramsey bounds for matrices whose entries are defined by zero-patterns of a sequence of polynomials. We conclude the paper with a number of open problems.

     

Représentations -adiques et normes universelles I. Le cas cristallin

Let be a crystalline -adic representation of the absolute Galois group of an finite unramified extension of , and let be a lattice of stable by . We prove the following result: Let be the maximal sub-representation of with Hodge-Tate weights strictly positive and . Then, the projective limit of is equal up to torsion to the projective limit of . So its rank over the Iwasawa algebra is .

     

Supersingular elliptic curves, theta series and weight two modular forms

Let be a prime, and let denote the space of weight two modular forms on all of whose Fourier coefficients are integral, except possibly for the constant term, which should be either integral or half-integral. We prove that is spanned as a -module by theta series attached to the unique quaternion algebra that is ramified at , at infinity, and at no other primes.

     

Curvature and injectivity radius estimates for Einstein 4-manifolds

Let denote an Einstein -manifold with Einstein constant, , normalized to satisfy . For , a metric ball, we prove a uniform estimate for the pointwise norm of the curvature tensor on , under the assumption that the -norm of the curvature on is less than a small positive constant, which is independent of , and which in particular, does not depend on a lower bound on the volume of . In case , we prove a lower injectivity radius bound analogous to that which occurs in the theorem of Margulis, for compact manifolds with negative sectional curvature, . These estimates provide key tools in the study of singularity formation for -dimensional Einstein metrics. As one application among others, we give a natural compactification of the moduli space of Einstein metrics with negative Einstein constant on a given .

     

Conformal restriction: The chordal case

We characterize and describe all random subsets of a given simply connected planar domain (the upper half-plane , say) which satisfy the ``conformal restriction' property, i.e., connects two fixed boundary points ( and , say) and the law of conditioned to remain in a simply connected open subset of is identical to that of , where is a conformal map from onto with and . The construction of this family relies on the stochastic Loewner evolution processes with parameter and on their distortion under conformal maps. We show in particular that SLE is the only random simple curve satisfying conformal restriction and we relate it to the outer boundaries of planar Brownian motion and SLE.     

The homotopy theory of fusion systems

We define and characterize a class of -complete spaces which have many of the same properties as the -completions of classifying spaces of finite groups. For example, each such has a Sylow subgroup , maps for a -group are described via homomorphisms , and is isomorphic to a certain ring of ``stable elements' in . These spaces arise as the ``classifying spaces' of certain algebraic objects which we call ``-local finite groups'. Such an object consists of a system of fusion data in , as formalized by L. Puig, extended by some extra information carried in a category which allows rigidification of the fusion data.

     

Sieving by large integers and covering systems of congruences

An old question of Erdos asks if there exists, for each number , a finite set of integers greater than and residue classes for whose union is . We prove that if is bounded for such a covering of the integers, then the least member of is also bounded, thus confirming a conjecture of Erdos and Selfridge. We also prove a conjecture of Erdos and Graham, that, for each fixed number , the complement in of any union of residue classes , for distinct , has density at least for sufficiently large. Here is a positive number depending only on . Either of these new results implies another conjecture of Erdos and Graham, that if is a finite set of moduli greater than , with a choice for residue classes for which covers , then the largest member of cannot be . We further obtain stronger forms of these results and establish other information, including an improvement of a related theorem of Haight.