Let $(X,B)$ be a projective log canonical pair such that $B$ is a $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor, and that there is a surjective morphism $f: X\to Z$ onto a normal variety $Z$ satisfying $K_X+B\sim _{\mathbb{Q}} f^*M$ for some big $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor $M$, and the augmented base locus ${\mathbf{B}}_+(M)$ does not contain the image of any log canonical centre of $(X,B)$. We will show that $(X,B)$ has a good log minimal model. An interesting special case is when $f$ is the identity morphism.

We prove an analogue of Koszul duality for category $ \mathcal{O} $ of a reductive group $G$ in positive characteristic $\ell $ larger than $1$ plus the number of roots of $G$. However, there are no Koszul rings, and we do not prove an analogue of the Kazhdan–Lusztig conjectures in this context. The main technical result is the formality of the dg-algebra of extensions of parity sheaves on the flag variety if the characteristic of the coefficients is at least the number of roots of $G$ plus $2$.

Let $K_1$ and $K_2$ be complete discrete valuation fields of residue characteristic $p>0$. Let $\pi _{K_1}$ and $\pi _{K_2}$ be their uniformizers. Let $L_1/K_1$ and $L_2/K_2$ be finite extensions with compatible isomorphisms of rings $\mathcal{O}_{K_1}/(\pi _{K_1}^m)\, {\simeq }\, \mathcal{O}_{K_2}/(\pi _{K_2}^m)$ and $\mathcal{O}_{L_1}/(\pi _{K_1}^m)\, {\simeq }\, \mathcal{O}_{L_2}/(\pi _{K_2}^m)$ for some positive integer $m$ which is no more than the absolute ramification indices of $K_1$ and $K_2$. Let $j\leq m$ be a positive rational number. In this paper, we prove that the ramification of $L_1/K_1$ is bounded by $j$ if and only if the ramification of $L_2/K_2$ is bounded by $j$. As an application, we prove that the categories of finite separable extensions of $K_1$ and $K_2$ whose ramifications are bounded by $j$ are equivalent to each other, which generalizes a theorem of Deligne to the case of imperfect residue fields. We also show the compatibility of Scholl’s theory of higher fields of norms with the ramification theory of Abbes–Saito, and the integrality of small Artin and Swan conductors of $p$-adic representations with finite local monodromy.

We prove that every curve on a separably rationally connected variety is rationally equivalent to a (non-effective) integral sum of rational curves. That is, the Chow group of 1-cycles is generated by rational curves. Applying the same technique, we also show that the Chow group of 1-cycles on a separably rationally connected Fano complete intersection of index at least 2 is generated by lines. As a consequence, we give a positive answer to a question of Professor Totaro about integral Hodge classes on rationally connected 3-folds. And by a result of Professor Voisin, the general case is a consequence of the Tate conjecture for surfaces over finite fields.

We study products of irreducible theta divisors from two points of view. On the one hand, we characterize them as normal subvarieties of abelian varieties such that a desingularization has holomorphic Euler characteristic $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}1$. On the other hand, we identify them up to birational equivalence among all varieties of maximal Albanese dimension. We also describe the structure of varieties $X$ of maximal Albanese dimension, with holomorphic Euler characteristic $1$ and irregularity $2\dim X-1$.

We study a Hermitian form $h$ over a quaternion division algebra $Q$ over a field ($h$ is supposed to be alternating if the characteristic of the field is two). For generic $h$ and $Q$, for any integer $i\in [1,\;n/2]$, where $n:=\dim _{Q}h$, we show that the variety of $i$-dimensional (over $Q$) totally isotropic right subspaces of $h$ is $2$-incompressible. The proof is based on a computation of the Chow ring for the classifying space of a certain parabolic subgroup in a split simple adjoint affine algebraic group of type $C_{n}$. As an application, we determine the smallest value of the $J$-invariant of a non-degenerate quadratic form divisible by a $2$-fold Pfister form; we also determine the biggest values of the canonical dimensions of the orthogonal Grassmannians associated to such quadratic forms.

In this paper we prove a version of curved Koszul duality for $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$-graded curved coalgebras and their cobar differential graded algebras. A curved version of the homological perturbation lemma is also obtained as a useful technical tool for studying curved (co)algebras and precomplexes. The results of Koszul duality can be applied to study the category of matrix factorizations $\mathsf{MF}(R,W)$. We show how Dyckerhoff’s generating results fit into the framework of curved Koszul duality theory. This enables us to clarify the relationship between the Borel–Moore Hochschild homology of curved (co)algebras and the ordinary Hochschild homology of the category $\mathsf{MF}(R,W)$. Similar results are also obtained in the orbifold case and in the graded case.

We investigate Cartan subalgebras in nontracial amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras ${\mathop{M{}_{1} \ast }\nolimits}_{B} {M}_{2} $ over an amenable von Neumann subalgebra $B$. First, we settle the problem of the absence of Cartan subalgebra in arbitrary free product von Neumann algebras. Namely, we show that any nonamenable free product von Neumann algebra $({M}_{1} , {\varphi }_{1} )\ast ({M}_{2} , {\varphi }_{2} )$ with respect to faithful normal states has no Cartan subalgebra. This generalizes the tracial case that was established by A. Ioana [Cartan subalgebras of amalgamated free product ${\mathrm{II} }_{1} $factors, arXiv:1207.0054]. Next, we prove that any countable nonsingular ergodic equivalence relation $ \mathcal{R} $ defined on a standard measure space and which splits as the free product $ \mathcal{R} = { \mathcal{R} }_{1} \ast { \mathcal{R} }_{2} $ of recurrent subequivalence relations gives rise to a nonamenable factor $\mathrm{L} ( \mathcal{R} )$ with a unique Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy. Finally, we prove unique Cartan decomposition for a class of group measure space factors ${\mathrm{L} }^{\infty } (X)\rtimes \Gamma $ arising from nonsingular free ergodic actions $\Gamma \curvearrowright (X, \mu )$ on standard measure spaces of amalgamated groups $\Gamma = {\mathop{\Gamma {}_{1} \ast }\nolimits}_{\Sigma } {\Gamma }_{2} $ over a finite subgroup $\Sigma $.

We show that the algebraic local fundamental group of any Kawamata log terminal singularity as well as the algebraic fundamental group of the smooth locus of any log Fano variety are finite.

Let $W$ be an extended affine Weyl group. We prove that the minimal length elements $w_{{\mathcal{O}}}$ of any conjugacy class ${\mathcal{O}}$ of $W$ satisfy some nice properties, generalizing results of Geck and Pfeiffer [On the irreducible characters of Hecke algebras, Adv. Math. 102 (1993), 79–94] on finite Weyl groups. We also study a special class of conjugacy classes, the straight conjugacy classes. These conjugacy classes are in a natural bijection with the Frobenius-twisted conjugacy classes of some $p$-adic group and satisfy additional interesting properties. Furthermore, we discuss some applications to the affine Hecke algebra $H$. We prove that $T_{w_{{\mathcal{O}}}}$, where ${\mathcal{O}}$ ranges over all the conjugacy classes of $W$, forms a basis of the cocenter $H/[H,H]$. We also introduce the class polynomials, which play a crucial role in the study of affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties He [Geometric and cohomological properties of affine Deligne–Lusztig varieties, Ann. of Math. (2) 179 (2014), 367–404].

Schinzel’s Hypothesis (H) was used by Colliot-Thélène and Sansuc, and later by Serre, Swinnerton-Dyer and others, to prove that the Brauer–Manin obstruction controls the Hasse principle and weak approximation on pencils of conics and similar varieties. We show that when the ground field is $\mathbb{Q}$ and the degenerate geometric fibres of the pencil are all defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, one can use this method to obtain unconditional results by replacing Hypothesis (H) with the finite complexity case of the generalised Hardy–Littlewood conjecture recently established by Green, Tao and Ziegler.

In this note we show that the members of a certain class of local similarity groups are ${l}^{2}$-invisible, i.e. the (non-reduced) group homology of the regular unitary representation vanishes in all degrees. This class contains groups of type ${F}_{\infty }$, e.g. Thompson’s group $V$ and Nekrashevych–Röver groups. They yield counterexamples to a generalized zero-in-the-spectrum conjecture for groups of type ${F}_{\infty }$.

We give an equivalent definition of the local volume of an isolated singularity $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}{\rm Vol}_{\text {BdFF}}(X,0)$ given in [S. Boucksom, T. de Fernex, C. Favre, The volume of an isolated singularity. Duke Math. J. 161 (2012), 1455–1520] in the $\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein case and we generalize it to the non-$\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein case. We prove that there is a positive lower bound depending only on the dimension for the non-zero local volume of an isolated singularity if $X$ is Gorenstein. We also give a non-$\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein example with ${\rm Vol}_{\text {BdFF}}(X,0)=0$, which does not allow a boundary $\Delta $ such that the pair $(X,\Delta )$ is log canonical.

We prove the finiteness of log pluricanonical representations for projective log canonical pairs with semi-ample log canonical divisor. As a corollary, we obtain that the log canonical divisor of a projective semi log canonical pair is semi-ample if and only if the log canonical divisor of its normalization is semi-ample. We also treat many other applications.

Let $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}G$ be a connected real semisimple Lie group, $V$ be a finite-dimensional representation of $G$ and $\mu $ be a probability measure on $G$ whose support spans a Zariski-dense subgroup. We prove that the set of ergodic $\mu $-stationary probability measures on the projective space $\mathbb{P}(V)$ is in one-to-one correspondence with the set of compact $G$-orbits in $\mathbb{P}(V)$. When $V$ is strongly irreducible, we prove the existence of limits for the empirical measures. We prove related results over local fields as the finiteness of the set of ergodic $\mu $-stationary measures on the flag variety of $G$.

We generalize the injectivity theorem of Esnault and Viehweg, and apply it to the structure of log canonical type divisors.

We show that the space of actions of every finitely generated, nilpotent group by $C^1$ orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms of the circle is path-connected. This is done via a general result that allows any given action on the interval to be connected to the trivial one by a continuous path of topological conjugates.

Let $X$ be an algebraic curve. We study the problem of parametrizing geometric structures over $X$ which are only generically defined. For example, parametrizing generically defined maps (rational maps) from $X$ to a fixed target scheme $Y$. There are three methods for constructing functors of points for such moduli problems (all originally due to Drinfeld), and we show that the resulting functors are equivalent in the fppf Grothendieck topology. As an application, we obtain three presentations for the category of $D$-modules ‘on’ $B(K)\backslash G(\mathbb{A})/G(\mathbb{O})$, and we combine results about this category coming from the different presentations.