We show that a system of r quadratic forms over a 𝔭-adic field in at least 4r+1 variables will have a non-trivial zero as soon as the cardinality of the residue field is large enough. In contrast, the Ax–Kochen theorem [J. Ax and S. Kochen, Diophantine problems over local fields. I, Amer. J. Math. 87 (1965), 605–630] requires the characteristic to be large in terms of the degree of the field over ℚp. The proofs use a 𝔭-adic minimization technique, together with counting arguments over the residue class field, based on considerations from algebraic geometry.

We show that the limit of a one-parameter admissible normal function with no singularities lies in a non-classical sub-object of the limiting intermediate Jacobian. Using this, we construct a Hausdorff slit analytic space, with complex Lie group fibres, which ‘graphs’ such normal functions. For singular normal functions, an extension of the sub-object by a finite group leads to the Néron models. When the normal function comes from geometry, that is, a family of algebraic cycles on a semistably degenerating family of varieties, its limit may be interpreted via the Abel–Jacobi map on motivic cohomology of the singular fibre, hence via regulators on K-groups of its substrata. Two examples are worked out in detail, for families of 1-cycles on CY and abelian 3-folds, where this produces interesting arithmetic constraints on such limits. We also show how to compute the finite ‘singularity group’ in the geometric setting.

In Boyer [Monodromy of perverse sheaves on vanishing cycles on some Shimura varieties, Invent. Math. 177 (2009), 239–280 (in French)], a sheaf version of the monodromy-weight conjecture for some unitary Shimura varieties was proved by giving explicitly the monodromy filtration of the complex of vanishing cycles in terms of local systems introduced in Harris and Taylor [The geometry and cohomology of some simple Shimura varieties (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2001)]. The main result of this paper is the cohomological version of the monodromy-weight conjecture for these Shimura varieties, which we prove by means of an explicit description of the groups of cohomology in terms of automorphic representations and the local Langlands correspondence.

We study the moduli spaces of polarised irreducible symplectic manifolds. By a comparison with locally symmetric varieties of orthogonal type of dimension 20, we show that the moduli space of polarised deformation K3[2] manifolds with polarisation of degree 2d and split type is of general type if d≥12.

Let X be a smooth projective variety of dimension n in Pr, and let π:X→Pn+c be a general linear projection, with c>0. In this paper we bound the scheme-theoretic complexity of the fibers of π. In his famous work on stable mappings, Mather extended the classical results by showing that the number of distinct points in the fiber is bounded by B:=n/c+1, and that, when n is not too large, the degree of the fiber (taking the scheme structure into account) is also bounded by B. A result of Lazarsfeld shows that this fails dramatically for n≫0. We describe a new invariant of the scheme-theoretic fiber that agrees with the degree in many cases and is always bounded by B. We deduce, for example, that if we write a fiber as the disjoint union of schemes Y′ and Y′′ such that Y′ is the union of the locally complete intersection components of Y, then deg Y′+deg Y′′red≤B. Our method also gives a sharp bound on the subvariety of Pr swept out by the l-secant lines of X for any positive integer l, and we discuss a corresponding bound for highly secant linear spaces of higher dimension. These results extend Ran’s ‘dimension +2 secant lemma’.

Using the Gille–Merkurjev norm principle we compute in a uniform way the image of the degree map for quadrics (Springer’s theorem), for twisted forms of maximal orthogonal Grassmannians (a theorem of Bayer-Fluckiger and Lenstra), and for E6- (a theorem of Rost) and E7-varieties.

An almost-direct product of free groups is an iterated semidirect product of finitely generated free groups in which the action of the constituent free groups on the homology of one another is trivial. We determine the structure of the cohomology ring of such a group. This is used to analyze the topological complexity of the associated Eilenberg–MacLane space.

We describe a general setting for the definition of semi-infinite cohomology of finite-dimensional graded algebras, and provide an interpretation of such cohomology in terms of derived categories. We apply this interpretation to compute semi-infinite cohomology of some modules over the small quantum group at a root of unity, generalizing an earlier result of Arkhipov (posed as a conjecture by B. Feigin).

A foliation on a non-singular projective variety is algebraically integrable if all leaves are algebraic subvarieties. A non-singular hypersurface X in a non-singular projective variety M equipped with a symplectic form has a naturally defined foliation, called the characteristic foliation on X. We show that if X is of general type and dim M≥4, then the characteristic foliation on X cannot be algebraically integrable. This is a consequence of a more general result on Iitaka dimensions of certain invertible sheaves associated with algebraically integrable foliations by curves. The latter is proved using the positivity of direct image sheaves associated to families of curves.

Weitzenböck formulas are an important tool in relating local differential geometry to global topological properties by means of the so-called Bochner method. In this article we give a unified treatment of the construction of all possible Weitzenböck formulas for all irreducible, non-symmetric holonomy groups. We explicitly construct a basis of the space of Weitzenböck formulas. This classification allows us to find customized Weitzenböck formulas for applications such as eigenvalue estimates or Betti number estimates.