We study the limiting behavior of Maass forms on sequences of large-volume compact quotients of $\operatorname {SL}_d({\mathbb R})/\textrm {SO}(d)$, $d\ge 3$, whose spectral parameter stays in a fixed window. We prove a form of quantum ergodicity in this level aspect which extends results of Le Masson and Sahlsten to the higher rank case.

Under an assumption on the existence of $p$-adic Galois representations, we carry out Taylor–Wiles patching (in the derived category) for the completed homology of the locally symmetric spaces associated with $\operatorname{GL}_{n}$ over a number field. We use our construction, and some new results in non-commutative algebra, to show that standard conjectures on completed homology imply ‘big $R=\text{big}~\mathbb{T}$’ theorems in situations where one cannot hope to appeal to the Zariski density of classical points (in contrast to all previous results of this kind). In the case where $n=2$ and $p$ splits completely in the number field, we relate our construction to the $p$-adic local Langlands correspondence for $\operatorname{GL}_{2}(\mathbb{Q}_{p})$.

We show that the compactly supported cohomology of certain $\text{U}(n,n)$- or $\text{Sp}(2n)$-Shimura varieties with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}_{1}(p^{\infty })$-level vanishes above the middle degree. The only assumption is that we work over a CM field $F$ in which the prime $p$ splits completely. We also give an application to Galois representations for torsion in the cohomology of the locally symmetric spaces for $\text{GL}_{n}/F$. More precisely, we use the vanishing result for Shimura varieties to eliminate the nilpotent ideal in the construction of these Galois representations. This strengthens recent results of Scholze [On torsion in the cohomology of locally symmetric varieties, Ann. of Math. (2) 182 (2015), 945–1066; MR 3418533] and Newton–Thorne [Torsion Galois representations over CM fields and Hecke algebras in the derived category, Forum Math. Sigma 4 (2016), e21; MR 3528275].

In [31] we defined a regularized analytic torsion for quotients of the symmetric space $\operatorname{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})/\operatorname{SO}(n)$ by arithmetic lattices. In this paper we study the limiting behavior of the analytic torsion as the lattices run through sequences of congruence subgroups of a fixed arithmetic subgroup. Our main result states that for principal congruence subgroups and strongly acyclic flat bundles, the logarithm of the analytic torsion, divided by the index of the subgroup, converges to the $L^{2}$-analytic torsion.

We compute the image of any choice of complex conjugation on the Galois representations associated to regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representations and to torsion classes in the cohomology of locally symmetric spaces for $\text{GL}_{n}$ over a totally real field $F$.

We derive upper Gaussian bounds for the heat kernel on complete, noncompact locally symmetric spaces M=Γ∖X with nonpositive curvature. Our bounds contain the Poincaré series of the discrete group Γ and therefore we also provide upper bounds for this series.