Let $F$ be a non-archimedean local field of characteristic different from 2 and residual characteristic $p$. This paper concerns the $\ell$-modular representations of a connected reductive group $G$ distinguished by a Galois involution, with $\ell$ an odd prime different from $p$. We start by proving a general theorem allowing to lift supercuspidal $\overline {\mathbf {F}}_{\ell }$-representations of $\operatorname {GL}_n(F)$ distinguished by an arbitrary closed subgroup $H$ to a distinguished supercuspidal $\overline {\mathbf {Q}}_{\ell }$-representation. Given a quadratic field extension $E/F$ and an irreducible $\overline {\mathbf {F}}_{\ell }$-representation $\pi$ of $\operatorname {GL}_n(E)$, we verify the Jacquet conjecture in the modular setting that if the Langlands parameter $\phi _\pi$ is irreducible and conjugate-selfdual, then $\pi$ is either $\operatorname {GL}_n(F)$-distinguished or $(\operatorname {GL}_{n}(F),\omega _{E/F})$-distinguished (where $\omega _{E/F}$ is the quadratic character of $F^\times$ associated to the quadratic field extension $E/F$ by the local class field theory), but not both, which extends one result of Sécherre to the case $p=2$. We give another application of our lifting theorem for supercuspidal representations distinguished by a unitary involution, extending one result of Zou to $p=2$. After that, we give a complete classification of the $\operatorname {GL}_2(F)$-distinguished representations of $\operatorname {GL}_2(E)$. Using this classification we discuss a modular version of the Prasad conjecture for $\operatorname {PGL}_2$. We show that the ‘classical’ Prasad conjecture fails in the modular setting. We propose a solution using non-nilpotent Weil–Deligne representations. Finally, we apply the restriction method of Anandavardhanan and Prasad to classify the $\operatorname {SL}_2(F)$-distinguished modular representations of $\operatorname {SL}_2(E)$.

We introduce $F$-gauges over a prism, construct syntomic cycle classes, and prove the prismatic Poincaré duality for proper smooth schemes.

Inspired by K. Fujita's algebro-geometric result that complex projective space has maximal degree among all K-semistable complex Fano varieties, we conjecture that the height of a K-semistable metrized arithmetic Fano variety $\mathcal {X}$ of relative dimension $n$ is maximal when $\mathcal {X}$ is the projective space over the integers, endowed with the Fubini–Study metric. Our main result establishes the conjecture for the canonical integral model of a toric Fano variety when $n\leq 6$ (the extension to higher dimensions is conditioned on a conjectural ‘gap hypothesis’ for the degree). Translated into toric Kähler geometry, this result yields a sharp lower bound on a toric invariant introduced by Donaldson, defined as the minimum of the toric Mabuchi functional. Furthermore, we reformulate our conjecture as an optimal lower bound on Odaka's modular height. In any dimension $n$ it is shown how to control the height of the canonical toric model $\mathcal {X},$ with respect to the Kähler–Einstein metric, by the degree of $\mathcal {X}$. In a sequel to this paper our height conjecture is established for any projective diagonal Fano hypersurface, by exploiting a more general logarithmic setup.

Several authors have studied homomorphisms from first homology groups of modular curves to $K_2(X)$, with $X$ either a cyclotomic ring or a modular curve. These maps send Manin symbols in the homology groups to Steinberg symbols of cyclotomic or Siegel units. We give a new construction of these maps and a direct proof of their Hecke equivariance, analogous to the construction of Siegel units using the universal elliptic curve. Our main tool is a $1$-cocycle from $\mathrm {GL}_2(\mathbb {Z})$ to the second $K$-group of the function field of a suitable group scheme over $X$, from which the maps of interest arise by specialization.

In 1988, Haagerup and Størmer conjectured that every pointwise inner automorphism of a type ${\rm III_1}$ factor is a composition of an inner and a modular automorphism. We study this conjecture and prove that every type ${\rm III_1}$ factor with trivial bicentralizer indeed satisfies this condition. In particular, this shows that Haagerup and Størmer's conjecture holds in full generality if Connes’ bicentralizer problem has an affirmative answer. Our proof is based on Popa's intertwining theory and Marrakchi's recent work on relative bicentralizers.

We construct the first example of a stable hyperholomorphic vector bundle of rank five on every hyper-Kähler manifold of $\mathrm {K3}^{[2]}$-type whose deformation space is smooth of dimension 10. Its moduli space is birational to a hyper-Kähler manifold of type OG10. This provides evidence for the expectation that moduli spaces of sheaves on a hyper-Kähler could lead to new examples of hyper-Kähler manifolds.