We prove the semisimplicity conjecture for A-motives over finitely generated fields K. This conjecture states that the rational Tate modules V𝔭(M) of a semisimple A-motive M are semisimple as representations of the absolute Galois group of K. This theorem is in analogy with known results for abelian varieties and Drinfeld modules, and has been sketched previously by Tamagawa. We deduce two consequences of the theorem for the algebraic monodromy groups G𝔭(M) associated to an A-motive M by Tannakian duality. The first requires no semisimplicity condition on M and states that G𝔭(M) may be identified naturally with the Zariski closure of the image of the absolute Galois group of K in the automorphism group of V𝔭(M). The second states that the connected component of G𝔭(M) is reductive if M is semisimple and has a separable endomorphism algebra.

Let $G$ denote a connected semisimple and simply connected algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $k$ of positive characteristic and let $g$ denote a regular element of $G$. Let $X$ denote any equivariant embedding of $G$. We prove that the closure of the conjugacy class of $g$ within $X$ is normal and Cohen–Macaulay. Moreover, when $X$ is smooth we prove that this closure is a local complete intersection. As a consequence, the closure of the unipotent variety within $X$ shares the same geometric properties.

Let $\mathbb{C}$ be a complete non-archimedean-valued algebraically closed field of characteristic p > 0 and consider the punctured unit disc $\dot{D} \subset \mathbb{C}$. Let q be a power of p and consider the arithmetic Frobenius automorphism $\sigma_{\dot{D}}: x \mapsto x^{q^{-1}}$. A $\sigma$-bundle is a vector bundle $\mathcal{F}$ on $\dot{D}$ together with an isomorphism $\tau_\mathcal{F}: \sigma^\ast_{\dot{D}} \mathcal{F} \stackrel{\sim}{\longrightarrow} \mathcal{F}$. The aim of this article is to develop the basic theory of these objects and to classify them. It is shown that every $\sigma$-bundle is isomorphic to a direct sum of indecomposable $\sigma$-bundles $\mathcal{F}_{d,r}$ which depend only on rational numbers d/r. This result has close analogies with the classification of rational Dieudonné modules and of vector bundles on the projective line or on an elliptic curve. It has interesting consequences concerning the uniformizability of Anderson's t-motives that will be treated in a future paper.