We study the back stable Schubert calculus of the infinite flag variety. Our main results are:

• – a formula for back stable (double) Schubert classes expressing them in terms of a symmetric function part and a finite part;

• – a novel definition of double and triple Stanley symmetric functions;

• – a proof of the positivity of double Edelman–Greene coefficients generalizing the results of Edelman–Greene and Lascoux–Schützenberger;

• – the definition of a new class of bumpless pipedreams, giving new formulae for double Schubert polynomials, back stable double Schubert polynomials, and a new form of the Edelman–Greene insertion algorithm;

• – the construction of the Peterson subalgebra of the infinite nilHecke algebra, extending work of Peterson in the affine case;

• – equivariant Pieri rules for the homology of the infinite Grassmannian;

• – homology divided difference operators that create the equivariant homology Schubert classes of the infinite Grassmannian.

Let $G$ be a split semisimple algebraic group over a field and let $A^*$ be an oriented cohomology theory in the Levine–Morel sense. We provide a uniform approach to the $A^*$-motives of geometrically cellular smooth projective $G$-varieties based on the Hopf algebra structure of $A^*(G)$. Using this approach, we provide various applications to the structure of motives of twisted flag varieties.

We exploit the Galois symmetries of the little disks operads to show that many differentials in the Goodwillie–Weiss spectral sequences approximating the homology and homotopy of knot spaces vanish at a prime $p$. Combined with recent results on the relationship between embedding calculus and finite-type theory, we deduce that the $(n+1)$th Goodwillie–Weiss approximation is a $p$-local universal Vassiliev invariant of degree $\leq n$ for every $n \leq p + 1$.

In this note, we will apply the results of Gross–Zagier, Gross–Kohnen–Zagier and their generalizations to give a short proof that the differences of singular moduli are not units. As a consequence, we obtain a result on isogenies between reductions of CM elliptic curves.

We give the first examples of derived equivalences between varieties defined over non-closed fields where one has a rational point and the other does not. We begin with torsors over Jacobians of curves over $\mathbb {Q}$ and $\mathbb {F}_q(t)$, and conclude with a pair of hyperkähler 4-folds over $\mathbb {Q}$. The latter is independently interesting as a new example of a transcendental Brauer–Manin obstruction to the Hasse principle. The source code for the various computations is supplied as supplementary material with the online version of this article.

We prove a specialization inequality relating the dimension of the complete linear series on a variety to the tropical complex of a regular semistable degeneration. Our result extends Baker's specialization inequality to arbitrary dimension.

We discuss some general properties of $\mathrm {TR}$ and its $K(1)$-localization. We prove that after $K(1)$-localization, $\mathrm {TR}$ of $H\mathbb {Z}$-algebras is a truncating invariant in the Land–Tamme sense, and deduce $h$-descent results. We show that for regular rings in mixed characteristic, $\mathrm {TR}$ is asymptotically $K(1)$-local, extending results of Hesselholt and Madsen. As an application of these methods and recent advances in the theory of cyclotomic spectra, we construct an analog of Thomason's spectral sequence relating $K(1)$-local $K$-theory and étale cohomology for $K(1)$-local $\mathrm {TR}$.