We develop an explicit descent theory in the context of Whitehead groups of non-commutative Iwasawa algebras. We apply this theory to describe the precise connection between main conjectures of non-commutative Iwasawa theory (in the spirit of Coates, Fukaya, Kato, Sujatha and Venjakob) and the equivariant Tamagawa number conjecture. The latter result is both a converse to a theorem of Fukaya and Kato and also provides an important means of deriving explicit consequences of the main conjecture and proving special cases of the equivariant Tamagawa number conjecture.

We study the slice filtration for the K-theory of a sheaf of Azumaya algebras A, and for the motive of a Severi-Brauer variety, the latter in the case of a central simple algebra of prime degree over a field. Using the Beilinson–Lichtenbaum conjecture, we apply our results to show the vanishing of SK2(A) for a central simple algebra A of square-free index (prime to the characteristic). This proves a conjecture of Merkurjev.

In a recent paper, Bondarko [Weight structures vs. t-structures; weight filtrations, spectral sequences, and complexes (for motives and in general), Preprint (2007), 0704.4003] defined the notion of weight structure, and proved that the category DMgm(k)of geometrical motives over a perfect field k, as defined and studied by Voevodsky, Suslin and Friedlander [Cycles, transfers, and motivic homology theories, Annals of Mathematics Studies, vol. 143 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2000)], is canonically equipped with such a structure. Building on this result, and under a condition on the weights avoided by the boundary motive [J. Wildeshaus, The boundary motive: definition and basic properties, Compositio Math. 142 (2006), 631–656], we describe a method to construct intrinsically in DMgm(k)a motivic version of interior cohomology of smooth, but possibly non-projective schemes. In a sequel to this work [J. Wildeshaus, On the interior motive of certain Shimura varieties: the case of Hilbert–Blumenthal varieties, Preprint (2009), 0906.4239], this method will be applied to Shimura varieties.

Vincent Lafforgue's bivariant K-theory for Banach algebras is invariant in the second variable under a rather general notion of Morita equivalence. In particular, the ordinary topological K-theory for Banach algebras is invariant under Morita equivalences.

We describe explicitly the Voevodsky's triangulated category of motives (and give a ‘differential graded enhancement’ of it). This enables us to able to verify that DMgm ℚ is (anti)isomorphic to Hanamura's (k).

We obtain a description of all subcategories (including those of Tate motives) and of all localizations of . We construct a conservative weight complex functor ; t gives an isomorphism . A motif is mixed Tate whenever its weight complex is. Over finite fields the Beilinson–Parshin conjecture holds if and only if tℚ is an equivalence.

For a realization D of we construct a spectral sequence S (the spectral sequence of motivic descent) converging to the cohomology of an arbitrary motif X. S is ‘motivically functorial’; it gives a canonical functorial weight filtration on the cohomology of D(X). For the ‘standard’ realizations this filtration coincides with the usual one (up to a shift of indices). For the motivic cohomology this weight filtration is non-trivial and appears to be quite new.

We define the (rational) length of a motif M; modulo certain ‘standard’ conjectures this length coincides with the maximal length of the weight filtration of the singular cohomology of M.

We assume the validity of the equivariant Tamagawa number conjecture for a certain motive attached to an abelian extension K/k of number fields, and we calculate the Fitting ideal of the dual of clK− as a Galois module, under mild extra hypotheses on K/k. This builds on concepts and results of Tate, Burns, Ritter and Weiss. If k is the field of rational numbers, our results are unconditional.

The aim of this work is to offer a new characterization of the Hilbert symbol Q*p from the commutator of a certain central extension of groups. We obtain a characterization for Q*p (p≠2) and a different one for Q*2.

The Kasparov groups are extended to the setting of inverse limits of G-C*-algebras, where G is assumed to be a locally compact group. The K K-product and other important features of the theory are generalized to this setting.

We adapt the Toeplitz operator proof of Bott periodicity to give a short direct proof of Bott periodicity for the representable K-theory of σ-C*-algebras. We further show how the use of this proof and the right definitions simplifies the derivation of the basic properties of representable K-theory.

Let X be a compact affine real algebraic variety of dimension 4. We compute the Witt group of symplectic bilinear forms over the ring of regular functions from X to C. The Witt group is expressed in terms of some subgroups of the cohomology groups .

Using various facts about principal bundles over a space, we give a unified treatment of several theorems about the structure of stable separable continuous-trace algebras, their automorphisms, and their K-theory. We also present a classification of real continuous-trace algebras from the same point of view.