Let ${\mathbf {G}}$ be a semisimple algebraic group over a number field K, $\mathcal {S}$ a finite set of places of K, $K_{\mathcal {S}}$ the direct product of the completions $K_{v}, v \in \mathcal {S}$, and ${\mathcal O}$ the ring of $\mathcal {S}$-integers of K. Let $G = {\mathbf {G}}(K_{\mathcal {S}})$, $\Gamma = {\mathbf {G}}({\mathcal O})$ and $\pi :G \rightarrow G/\Gamma $ the quotient map. We describe the closures of the locally divergent orbits ${T\pi (g)}$ where T is a maximal $K_{\mathcal {S}}$-split torus in G. If $\# S = 2$ then the closure $ \overline{T\pi (g)}$ is a finite union of T-orbits stratified in terms of parabolic subgroups of ${\mathbf {G}} \times {\mathbf {G}}$ and, consequently, $\overline{T\pi (g)}$ is homogeneous (i.e. $\overline{T\pi (g)}= H\pi (g)$ for a subgroup H of G) if and only if ${T\pi (g)}$ is closed. On the other hand, if $\# \mathcal {S}> 2$ and K is not a $\mathrm {CM}$-field then $\overline {T\pi (g)}$ is homogeneous for ${\mathbf {G}} = \mathbf {SL}_{n}$ and, generally, non-homogeneous but squeezed between closed orbits of two reductive subgroups of equal semisimple K-ranks for ${\mathbf {G}} \neq \mathbf {SL}_{n}$. As an application, we prove that $\overline {f({\mathcal O}^{n})} = K_{\mathcal {S}}$ for the class of non-rational locally K-decomposable homogeneous forms $f \in K_{\mathcal {S}}[x_1, \ldots , x_{n}]$.

Let G be a semisimple real algebraic group defined over ${\mathbb {Q}}$, $\Gamma $ be an arithmetic subgroup of G, and T be a maximal ${\mathbb {R}}$-split torus. A trajectory in $G/\Gamma $ is divergent if eventually it leaves every compact subset. In some cases there is a finite collection of explicit algebraic data which accounts for the divergence. If this is the case, the divergent trajectory is called obvious. Given a closed cone in T, we study the existence of non-obvious divergent trajectories under its action in $G\kern-1pt{/}\kern-1pt\Gamma $. We get a sufficient condition for the existence of a non-obvious divergence trajectory in the general case, and a full classification under the assumption that $\mathrm {rank}_{{\mathbb {Q}}}G=\mathrm {rank}_{{\mathbb {R}}}G=2$.

Let $M\stackrel {\rho _0}{\curvearrowleft }S$ be a $C^\infty $ locally free action of a connected simply connected solvable Lie group S on a closed manifold M. Roughly speaking, $\rho _0$ is parameter rigid if any $C^\infty $ locally free action of S on M having the same orbits as $\rho _0$ is $C^\infty $ conjugate to $\rho _0$. In this paper we prove two types of result on parameter rigidity.

First let G be a connected semisimple Lie group with finite center of real rank at least $2$ without compact factors nor simple factors locally isomorphic to $\mathop {\mathrm {SO}}\nolimits _0(n,1)(n\,{\geq}\, 2)$ or $\mathop {\mathrm {SU}}\nolimits (n,1)(n\geq 2)$, and let $\Gamma $ be an irreducible cocompact lattice in G. Let $G=KAN$ be an Iwasawa decomposition. We prove that the action $\Gamma \backslash G\curvearrowleft AN$ by right multiplication is parameter rigid. One of the three main ingredients of the proof is the rigidity theorems of Pansu, and Kleiner and Leeb on the quasi-isometries of Riemannian symmetric spaces of non-compact type.

Secondly we show that if $M\stackrel {\rho _0}{\curvearrowleft }S$ is parameter rigid, then the zeroth and first cohomology of the orbit foliation of $\rho _0$ with certain coefficients must vanish. This is a partial converse to the results in the author’s [Vanishing of cohomology and parameter rigidity of actions of solvable Lie groups. Geom. Topol. 21(1) (2017), 157–191], where we saw sufficient conditions for parameter rigidity in terms of vanishing of the first cohomology with various coefficients.

We improve upon the local bound in the depth aspect for sup-norms of newforms on $D^\times$, where $D$ is an indefinite quaternion division algebra over ${\mathbb {Q}}$. Our sup-norm bound implies a depth-aspect subconvexity bound for $L(1/2, f \times \theta _\chi )$, where $f$ is a (varying) newform on $D^\times$ of level $p^n$, and $\theta _\chi$ is an (essentially fixed) automorphic form on $\textrm {GL}_2$ obtained as the theta lift of a Hecke character $\chi$ on a quadratic field. For the proof, we augment the amplification method with a novel filtration argument and a recent counting result proved by the second-named author to reduce to showing strong quantitative decay of matrix coefficients of local newvectors along compact subsets, which we establish via $p$-adic stationary phase analysis. Furthermore, we prove a general upper bound in the level aspect for sup-norms of automorphic forms belonging to any family whose associated matrix coefficients have such a decay property.

This paper generalizes the Gan–Gross–Prasad (GGP) conjectures that were earlier formulated for tempered or more generally generic L-packets to Arthur packets, especially for the non-generic L-packets arising from Arthur parameters. The paper introduces the key notion of a relevant pair of Arthur parameters that governs the branching laws for ${{\rm GL}}_n$ and all classical groups over both local fields and global fields. It plays a role for all the branching problems studied in Gan et al. [Symplectic local root numbers, central critical L-values and restriction problems in the representation theory of classical groups. Sur les conjectures de Gross et Prasad. I, Astérisque 346 (2012), 1–109] including Bessel models and Fourier–Jacobi models.

We consider autocorrelation functions for supersymmetric quantum mechanical systems (consisting of a fermion and a boson) confined in trigonometric Pöschl–Teller partner potentials. We study the limit of rescaled autocorrelation functions (at random time) as the localization of the initial state goes to infinity. The limiting distribution can be described using pairs of Jacobi theta functions on a suitably defined homogeneous space, as a corollary of the work of Cellarosi and Marklof. A construction by Contreras-Astorga and Fernández provides large classes of Pöschl-Teller partner potentials to which our analysis applies.

A subset X of a Polish group G is Haar null if there exists a Borel probability measure μ and a Borel set B containing X such that μ(gBh) = 0 for every g, h ∈ G. A set X is Haar meager if there exists a compact metric space K, a continuous function f : K → G and a Borel set B containing X such that f−1(gBh) is meager in K for every g, h ∈ G. We calculate (in ZFC) the four cardinal invariants (add, cov, non, cof) of these two σ-ideals for the simplest non-locally compact Polish group, namely in the case $G = \mathbb {Z}^\omega$. In fact, most results work for separable Banach spaces as well, and many results work for Polish groups admitting a two-sided invariant metric. This answers a question of the first named author and Vidnyánszky.

We prove several general conditional convergence results on ergodic averages for horocycle and geodesic subgroups of any continuous $\operatorname {SL}(2, \mathbb {R})$-action on a locally compact space. These results are motivated by theorems of Eskin, Mirzakhani and Mohammadi on the $\operatorname {SL}(2, \mathbb {R})$-action on the moduli space of Abelian differentials. By our argument we can derive from these theorems an improved version of the ‘weak convergence’ of push-forwards of horocycle measures under the geodesic flow and a short proof of weaker versions of theorems of Chaika and Eskin on Birkhoff genericity and Oseledets regularity in almost all directions for the Teichmüller geodesic flow.

A measure on a locally compact group is said to be spread out if one of its convolution powers is not singular with respect to Haar measure. Using Markov chain theory, we conduct a detailed analysis of random walks on homogeneous spaces with spread out increment distribution. For finite volume spaces, we arrive at a complete picture of the asymptotics of the n-step distributions: they equidistribute towards Haar measure, often exponentially fast and locally uniformly in the starting position. In addition, many classical limit theorems are shown to hold. In the infinite volume case, we prove recurrence and a ratio limit theorem for symmetric spread out random walks on homogeneous spaces of at most quadratic growth. This settles one direction in a long-standing conjecture.

We describe the connected components of the space $\text {Hom}(\Gamma ,SU(2))$ of homomorphisms for a discrete nilpotent group $\Gamma$. The connected components arising from homomorphisms with non-abelian image turn out to be homeomorphic to $\mathbb {RP}^{3}$. We give explicit calculations when $\Gamma$ is a finitely generated free nilpotent group. In the second part of the paper, we study the filtration $B_{\text {com}} SU(2)=B(2,SU(2))\subset \cdots \subset B(q,SU(2))\subset \cdots$ of the classifying space $BSU(2)$ (introduced by Adem, Cohen and Torres-Giese), showing that for every $q\geq 2$, the inclusions induce a homology isomorphism with coefficients over a ring in which 2 is invertible. Most of the computations are done for $SO(3)$ and $U(2)$ as well.

The topic of this course is the discrete subgroups of semisimple Lie groups. We discuss a criterion that ensures that such a subgroup is arithmetic. This criterion is a joint work with Sébastien Miquel, which extends previous work of Selberg and Hee Oh and solves an old conjecture of Margulis. We focus on concrete examples like the group$\mathrm {SL}(d,{\mathbb {R}})$ and we explain how classical tools and new techniques enter the proof: the Auslander projection theorem, the Bruhat decomposition, the Mahler compactness criterion, the Borel density theorem, the Borel–Harish-Chandra finiteness theorem, the Howe–Moore mixing theorem, the Dani–Margulis recurrence theorem, the Raghunathan–Venkataramana finite-index subgroup theorem and so on.

In this paper, we analyze Fourier coefficients of automorphic forms on a finite cover G of an adelic split simply-laced group. Let $\pi $ be a minimal or next-to-minimal automorphic representation of G. We prove that any $\eta \in \pi $ is completely determined by its Whittaker coefficients with respect to (possibly degenerate) characters of the unipotent radical of a fixed Borel subgroup, analogously to the Piatetski-Shapiro–Shalika formula for cusp forms on $\operatorname {GL}_n$. We also derive explicit formulas expressing the form, as well as all its maximal parabolic Fourier coefficient, in terms of these Whittaker coefficients. A consequence of our results is the nonexistence of cusp forms in the minimal and next-to-minimal automorphic spectrum. We provide detailed examples for G of type $D_5$ and $E_8$ with a view toward applications to scattering amplitudes in string theory.

We show local rigidity of hyperbolic triangle groups generated by reflections in pairs of n-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb {R}^{2n}$ obtained by composition of the geometric representation in $\mathsf {PGL}(2,\mathbb {R})$ with the diagonal embeddings into $\mathsf {PGL}(2n,\mathbb {R})$ and $\mathsf {PSp}^\pm (2n,\mathbb {R})$.

We generalize Uhlenbeck’s generator theorem of ${\mathcal{L}}^{-}\operatorname{U}_{n}$ to the full rational loop group ${\mathcal{L}}^{-}\operatorname{GL}_{n}\mathbb{C}$ and its subgroups ${\mathcal{L}}^{-}\operatorname{GL}_{n}\mathbb{R}$, ${\mathcal{L}}^{-}\operatorname{U}_{p,q}$: they are all generated by just simple projective loops. Recall that Terng–Uhlenbeck studied the dressing actions of such projective loops as generalized Bäcklund transformations for integrable systems. Our result makes a nice supplement: any rational dressing is the composition of these Bäcklund transformations. This conclusion is surprising in the sense that Lie theory suggests the indispensable role of nilpotent loops in the case of noncompact reality conditions, and nilpotent dressings appear quite complicated and mysterious. The sacrifice is to introduce some extra fake singularities. So we also propose a set of generators if fake singularities are forbidden. A very geometric and physical construction of $\operatorname{U}_{p,q}$ is obtained as a by-product, generalizing the classical construction of unitary groups.

Given an action ${\varphi }$ of inverse semigroup S on a ring A (with domain of ${\varphi }(s)$ denoted by $D_{s^*}$), we show that if the ideals $D_e$, with e an idempotent, are unital, then the skew inverse semigroup ring $A\rtimes S$ can be realized as the convolution algebra of an ample groupoid with coefficients in a sheaf of (unital) rings. Conversely, we show that the convolution algebra of an ample groupoid with coefficients in a sheaf of rings is isomorphic to a skew inverse semigroup ring of this sort. We recover known results in the literature for Steinberg algebras over a field as special cases.

Let F be a non-Archimedean local field of characteristic zero. Let G = GL(2, F) and $3\widetildeG = \widetilde{GL}(2,F)$ be the metaplectic group. Let τ be the standard involution on G. A well-known theorem of Gelfand and Kazhdan says that the standard involution takes any irreducible admissible representation of G to its contragredient. In such a case, we say that τ is a dualizing involution. In this paper, we make some modifications and adapt a topological argument of Tupan to the metaplectic group $\widetildeG$ and give an elementary proof that any lift of the standard involution to $\widetildeG$; is also a dualizing involution.

Many phenomena in geometry and analysis can be explained via the theory of $D$-modules, but this theory explains close to nothing in the non-archimedean case, by the absence of integration by parts. Hence there is a need to look for alternatives. A central example of a notion based on the theory of $D$-modules is the notion of holonomic distributions. We study two recent alternatives of this notion in the context of distributions on non-archimedean local fields, namely $\mathscr{C}^{\text{exp}}$-class distributions from Cluckers et al. [‘Distributions and wave front sets in the uniform nonarchimedean setting’, Trans. Lond. Math. Soc.5(1) (2018), 97–131] and WF-holonomicity from Aizenbud and Drinfeld [‘The wave front set of the Fourier transform of algebraic measures’, Israel J. Math.207(2) (2015), 527–580 (English)]. We answer a question from Aizenbud and Drinfeld [‘The wave front set of the Fourier transform of algebraic measures’, Israel J. Math.207(2) (2015), 527–580 (English)] by showing that each distribution of the $\mathscr{C}^{\text{exp}}$-class is WF-holonomic and thus provides a framework of WF-holonomic distributions, which is stable under taking Fourier transforms. This is interesting because the $\mathscr{C}^{\text{exp}}$-class contains many natural distributions, in particular, the distributions studied by Aizenbud and Drinfeld [‘The wave front set of the Fourier transform of algebraic measures’, Israel J. Math.207(2) (2015), 527–580 (English)]. We show also another stability result of this class, namely, one can regularize distributions without leaving the $\mathscr{C}^{\text{exp}}$-class. We strengthen a link from Cluckers et al. [‘Distributions and wave front sets in the uniform nonarchimedean setting’, Trans. Lond. Math. Soc.5(1) (2018), 97–131] between zero loci and smooth loci for functions and distributions of the $\mathscr{C}^{\text{exp}}$-class. A key ingredient is a new resolution result for subanalytic functions (by alterations), based on embedded resolution for analytic functions and model theory.

For a locally compact group G, we study the distality of the action of automorphisms T of G on SubG, the compact space of closed subgroups of G endowed with the Chabauty topology. For a certain class of discrete groups G, we show that T acts distally on SubG if and only if Tn is the identity map for some $n\in\mathbb N$. As an application, we get that for a T-invariant lattice Γ in a simply connected nilpotent Lie group G, T acts distally on SubG if and only if it acts distally on SubΓ. This also holds for any closed T-invariant co-compact subgroup Γ in G. For a lattice Γ in a simply connected solvable Lie group, we study conditions under which its automorphisms act distally on SubΓ. We construct an example highlighting the difference between the behaviour of automorphisms on a lattice in a solvable Lie group and that in a nilpotent Lie group. We also characterise automorphisms of a lattice Γ in a connected semisimple Lie group which act distally on SubΓ. For torsion-free compactly generated nilpotent (metrisable) groups G, we obtain the following characterisation: T acts distally on SubG if and only if T is contained in a compact subgroup of Aut(G). Using these results, we characterise the class of such groups G which act distally on SubG. We also show that any compactly generated distal group G is Lie projective.

Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F4}$ be a compact orientable surface of genus $g=1$ with $n=1$ boundary component. The mapping class group $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}$ of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F4}$ acts on the $\mathsf{SU}(3)$-character variety of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F4}$. We show that the action is ergodic with respect to the natural symplectic measure on the character variety.

The aim of the article is to provide a characterization of the Haagerup property for locally compact, second countable groups in terms of actions on $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$-finite measure spaces. It is inspired by the very first definition of amenability, namely the existence of an invariant mean on the algebra of essentially bounded, measurable functions on the group.