We define a motivic conductor for any presheaf with transfers F using the categorical framework developed for the theory of motives with modulus by Kahn, Miyazaki, Saito and Yamazaki. If F is a reciprocity sheaf, this conductor yields an increasing and exhaustive filtration on $F(L)$ , where L is any henselian discrete valuation field of geometric type over the perfect ground field. We show that if F is a smooth group scheme, then the motivic conductor extends the Rosenlicht–Serre conductor; if F assigns to X the group of finite characters on the abelianised étale fundamental group of X, then the motivic conductor agrees with the Artin conductor defined by Kato and Matsuda; and if F assigns to X the group of integrable rank $1$ connections (in characteristic $0$ ), then it agrees with the irregularity. We also show that this machinery gives rise to a conductor for torsors under finite flat group schemes over the base field, which we believe to be new. We introduce a general notion of conductors on presheaves with transfers and show that on a reciprocity sheaf, the motivic conductor is minimal and any conductor which is defined only for henselian discrete valuation fields of geometric type with perfect residue field can be uniquely extended to all such fields without any restriction on the residue field. For example, the Kato–Matsuda Artin conductor is characterised as the canonical extension of the classical Artin conductor defined in the case of a perfect residue field.

The minimal ramification problem may be considered as a quantitative version of the inverse Galois problem. For a nontrivial finite group $G$, let $m(G)$ be the minimal integer $m$ for which there exists a $G$-Galois extension $N/\mathbb{Q}$ that is ramified at exactly $m$ primes (including the infinite one). So, the problem is to compute or to bound $m(G)$.

In this paper, we bound the ramification of extensions $N/\mathbb{Q}$ obtained as a specialization of a branched covering $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}:C\rightarrow \mathbb{P}_{\mathbb{Q}}^{1}$. This leads to novel upper bounds on $m(G)$, for finite groups $G$ that are realizable as the Galois group of a branched covering. Some instances of our general results are:

$$\begin{eqnarray}1\leqslant m(S_{k})\leqslant 4\quad \text{and}\quad n\leqslant m(S_{k}^{n})\leqslant n+4,\end{eqnarray}$$

$n,k>0$

$S_{k}$

$k$

$S_{k}^{n}$

$n$

$S_{k}$

$m(G^{n})$

$n\rightarrow \infty$

$G$

Our methods are based on sieve theory results, in particular on the Green–Tao–Ziegler theorem on prime values of linear forms in two variables, on the theory of specialization in arithmetic geometry, and on finite group theory.

We describe the ramification in cyclic extensions arising from the Kummer theory of the Weil restriction of the multiplicative group. This generalises the classical theory of Hecke describing the ramification of Kummer extensions.

We elucidate the geometric background of function-theoretic properties for the Gauss maps of several classes of immersed surfaces in three-dimensional space forms, for example, minimal surfaces in Euclidean three-space, improper affine spheres in the affine three-space, and constant mean curvature one surfaces and flat surfaces in hyperbolic three-space. To achieve this purpose, we prove an optimal curvature bound for a specified conformal metric on an open Riemann surface and give some applications. We also provide unicity theorems for the Gauss maps of these classes of surfaces.

In this article we explain how the results in our previous article on ‘algebraic Hecke characters and compatible systems of mod $p$ Galois representations over global fields’ allow one to attach a Hecke character to every cuspidal Drinfeld modular eigenform from its associated crystal that was constructed in earlier work of the author. On the technical side, we prove along the way a number of results on endomorphism rings of ${\it\tau}$-sheaves and crystals. These are needed to exhibit the close relation between Hecke operators as endomorphisms of crystals on the one side and Frobenius automorphisms acting on étale sheaves associated to crystals on the other. We also present some partial results on the ramification of Hecke characters associated to Drinfeld modular eigenforms. An important phenomenon absent from the case of classical modular forms is that ramification can also result from places of modular curves of good but non-ordinary reduction. In an appendix, jointly with Centeleghe we prove some basic results on $p$-adic Galois representations attached to $\text{GL}_{2}$-type cuspidal automorphic forms over global fields of characteristic $p$.

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 give bounds for the Betti numbers of projective algebraic varieties in terms of their classes (degrees of dual varieties of successive hyperplane sections). We also give bounds for classes in terms of ramification volumes (mixed ramification degrees), sectional genus and, eventually, in terms of dimension, codimension and degree. For varieties whose degree is large with respect to codimension, we give sharp bounds for the above invariants and classify the varieties on the boundary, thus obtaining a generalization of Castelnuovo’s theory for curves to varieties of higher dimension.

Let K be a complete discrete valuation field of mixed characteristic (0,p), with possibly imperfect residue field. We prove a Hasse–Arf theorem for the arithmetic ramification filtrations on GK, except possibly in the absolutely unramified and non-logarithmic case, or the p=2 and logarithmic case. As an application, we obtain a Hasse–Arf theorem for filtrations on finite flat group schemes over 𝒪K.

Laumon introduced the local Fourier transform for ℓ-adic Galois representations of local fields, of equal characteristic p different from ℓ, as a powerful tool for studying the Fourier–Deligne transform of ℓ-adic sheaves over the affine line. In this article, we compute explicitly the local Fourier transform of monomial representations satisfying a certain ramification condition, and deduce Laumon’s formula relating the ε-factor to the determinant of the local Fourier transform under the same condition.

The so-called dithecous leaves with two sheaths (adaxial and abaxial) which occur at branching in species of subfamily Podostemoideae of the aquatic flowering plant family Podostemaceae are enigmatic structures. The fact that in many species the shoot axes and leaves are fused has previously prevented an understanding of the real nature of dithecous leaves. This study reports on the position of the dithecous leaf in Podostemum rutifolium subsp. ricciiforme, the simple shoot structure of which has revealed that the dithecous leaf is the first leaf of the branch and does not arise from the main shoot as previously believed. Accordingly, the two sheaths of the dithecous leaf are interpreted anew: the sheath towards the branch, and its flower bud, is the true (ventral, adaxial) sheath of the dithecous leaf (formerly viewed as an additional new structure), and the other (dorsal, abaxial) sheath towards the flower bud of the main shoot of the branch is a novel structure. Consequently, the branch does not develop from the reverse side of the dithecous leaf in a subfoliar position, but rather is axillary above its subtending leaf. A similar structure was described in a previous paper on Apinagia riedelii, and in both species, and thus in subfamily Podostemoideae, the ramification pattern conforms to the pattern in other angiosperms.

Let K be a local field of equal characteristic p>2, let XK/K be a smooth proper relative curve, and let ℱ be a rank 1 smooth l-adic sheaf (l≠p) on a dense open subset UK⊂XK. In this paper, under some assumptions on the wild ramification of ℱ, we prove a conductor formula that computes the Swan conductor of the etale cohomology of the vanishing cycles of ℱ. Our conductor formula is a generalization of the conductor formula of Bloch, but for non-constant coefficients.

Let $p$ be a prime number. Let $k$ be a finite field of characteristic $p$. The subset $X\,+\,{{X}^{2}}k[[X]]$ of the ring $k\left[\!\left[ X \right]\!\right]$ is a group under the substitution law $\circ $ sometimes called the Nottingham group of $k$, it is denoted by ${{\mathcal{R}}_{k}}$. The ramification of one series $\gamma \,\in \,{{\mathcal{R}}_{k}}$ is caracterized by its lower ramification numbers: ${{i}_{m}}(\gamma )\,=\,\text{or}{{\text{d}}_{X}}({{\gamma }^{{{p}^{m}}}}\,(X)/X-1)\,$, as well as its upper ramification numbers:

$${{u}_{m}}(\gamma )\ =\ {{i}_{0}}(\gamma )+\frac{{{i}_{1}}(\gamma )-{{i}_{0}}(\gamma )}{p}\,+\,.\,.\,.\,+\,\frac{{{i}_{m}}(\gamma )-{{i}_{m-1}}(\gamma )}{{{p}^{m}}},\,\,\,\,\,\,(m\,\in \,\mathbb{N}).$$

By Sen's theorem, the ${{u}_{m}}(\gamma )$ are integers. In this paper, we determine the sequences of integers (${{u}_{m}}$) for which there exists $\gamma \,\in \,{{\mathcal{R}}_{k}}$ such that ${{u}_{m}}(\gamma )\,=\,{{u}_{m}}$ for all integer $m\,\ge \,0$.