We consider the "limiting behavior" of *discriminants*, by which we mean informally the locus in some parameter space of some type of object where the objects have certain singularities. We focus on the space of partially labeled points on a variety X, and linear systems on X. These are connected --- we use the first to understand the second. We describe their classes in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, as the number of points gets large, or as the line bundle gets very positive. They stabilize in an appropriate sense, and their stabilization is given in terms of motivic zeta values. Motivated by our results, we conjecture that the symmetric powers of geometrically irreducible varieties stabilize in the Grothendieck ring (in an appropriate sense). Our results extend parallel results in both arithmetic and topology. We give a number of reasons for considering these questions, and propose a number of new conjectures, both arithmetic and topological.
This note describes the subring of the Grothendieck ring of k-varieties generated by smooth conics; finding many zero divisors. The proof uses only elementary projective geometry.
In this note we discuss a generalization ("extension") of the pre-lambda structure on the Grothendieck ring of quasi-projective varieties and of the corresponding power structure over it to the Grothendieck ring of stacks, discuss some of their properties and give some explicit formulae for the Kapranov zeta function for some stacks.
We give sufficient cohomological criteria for the classes of given varieties over a field $k$ to be algebraically independent in the Grothendieck ring of varieties over $k$ and construct some examples.
We show that the class of the affine line is a zero divisor in the Grothendieck ring of algebraic varieties over complex numbers. The argument is based on the Pfaffian-Grassmannian double mirror correspondence.
We investigate Grothendieck rings appearing in real geometry, notably for arc-symmetric sets, and focus on the relative case in analogy with the properties of the ring of algebraically constructible functions defined by McCrory and Parusinski. We study in particular the duality and link operators, including its behaviour with respect to motivic Milnor fibres with signs.
We define a Grothendieck ring of varieties with finite groups actions and show that the orbifold Euler characteristic and the Euler characteristics of higher orders can be defined as homomorphisms from this ring to the ring of integers. We describe two natural $λ$-structures on the ring and the corresponding power structures over it and show that one of these power structures is effective. We define a Grothendieck ring of varieties with equivariant vector bundles and show that the generalized ("motivic") Euler characteristics of higher orders can be defined as homomorphisms from this ring to t…
Lev A. Borisov has shown that the class of the affine line is a zero divisor in the Grothendieck ring of algebraic varieties over complex numbers. We improve the final formula by removing a factor.
For a scheme S with a good action of a finite abelian group G having enough roots of unity we show that the quotient map on the G-equivariant Grothendieck ring of varieties over S is well defined with image in the Grothendieck ring of varieties over S/G in the tame case, and in the modified Grothendieck ring in the wild case. To prove this we use a result on the class of the quotient of a vector space by a quasi-linear action in the Grothendieck ring of varieties due to Esnault and Viehweg, which we also generalize to the case of wild actions. As an application we deduce that the quotient of t…
Motivated by [Bor] and [Mar], we show the equality $\left([X] - [Y]\right) \cdot [\mathbb{A}^1] = 0$ in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, where $(X, Y)$ is a pair of Calabi-Yau 3-folds cut out from the pair of Grassmannians of type $G_2$.
This is a small note meant to be published in a Conference Proceedings. We discuss elementary rationality questions in the Grothendieck ring of varieties for the quotient of a finite dimensional vector space over a characteristic 0 field by a finite group. Part of it reproduces the content of a letter dated September 27, 2008 addressed to Johannes Nicaise
The Grothendieck ring of Chow motives admits two natural opposite $λ$-ring structures, one of which is a special structure allowing the definition of Adams operations on the ring. In this work I present algorithms which allow an effective simplification of expressions that involve both $λ$-ring structures, as well as Adams operations. In particular, these algorithms allow the symbolic simplification of algebraic expressions in the sub-$λ$-ring of motives generated by a finite set of curves into polynomial expressions in a small set of motivic generators. As a consequence, the explicit computat…
We define a Grothendieck ring for basic real semialgebraic formulas, that is for systems of real algebraic equations and inequalities. In this ring the class of a formula takes into consideration the algebraic nature of the set of points satisfying this formula and contains as a ring the usual Grothendieck ring of real algebraic formulas. We give a realization of our ring that allows to express a class as a Z[1/2]- linear combination of classes of real algebraic formulas, so this realization gives rise to a notion of virtual Poincaré polynomial for basic semialgebraic formulas. We then define …
A power structure over a ring is a method to give sense to expressions of the form $(1+a_1t+a_2t^2+\ldots)^m$, where $a_i$, $i=1, 2,\ldots$, and $m$ are elements of the ring. The (natural) power structure over the Grothendieck ring of complex quasi-projective varieties appeared to be useful for a number of applications. We discuss new examples of $λ$- and power structures over some Grothendieck rings of varieties. The main example is for the Grothendieck ring of maps of complex quasi-projective varieties. We describe two natural $λ$-structures on it which lead to the same power structure. We s…
We define a special type of hypersurface varieties inside $\mathbb{P}_k^{n-1}$ arising from connected planar graphs and then find their equivalence classes inside the Gröthendieck ring of projective varieties. Then we find a characterization for graphs in order to define irreducible hypersurfaces in general.
We introduce a Grothendieck ring of higher Artin stacks generalizing the Grothendieck ring of algebraic varieties. We show that this ring is not trivial by noticing that it factors the invariant "number of rational points over a finite field". We also introduce the notion of "special Artin stacks", which by definition have affine homotopy groups π_{i}, and furthermore unipotent for i>1. Our principal theorem states that the natural inclusion morphism from the Grothendieck ring of varieties to the Grothendieck ring of special Artin stacks is an isomorphism after inverting the class of the affin…
For a reductive group scheme $G$ over a semilocal Dedekind ring $R$ with total ring of fractions $K$, we prove that no nontrivial $G$-torsor trivializes over $K$. This generalizes a result of Nisnevich-Tits, who settled the case when $R$ is local. Their result, in turn, is a special case of a conjecture of Grothendieck-Serre that predicts the same over any regular local ring. With a patching technique and weak approximation in the style of Harder, we reduce to the case when $R$ is a complete discrete valuation ring. Afterwards, we consider Levi subgroups to reduce to the case when $G$ is semis…
Let R be a regular local ring, containing a finite field. Let G be a reductive group scheme over R. We prove that a principal G-bundle over R is trivial, if it is trivial over the fraction field of R. If the regular local ring R contains an infinite field this result is proved in [FP]. Thus the conjecture is true for regular local rings containing a field.
The notion of the orbifold Euler characteristic came from physics at the end of 80's. There were defined higher order versions of the orbifold Euler characteristic and generalized ("motivic") versions of them. In a previous paper the authors defined a notion of the Grothendieck ring $K_0^{\rm fGr}(Var)$ of varieties with actions of finite groups on which the orbifold Euler characteristic and its higher order versions are homomorphisms to the ring of integers. Here we define the generalized orbifold Euler characteristic and higher order versions of it as ring homomorphisms from $K_0^{\rm fGr}(V…
The power structure over the Grothendieck (semi)ring of complex quasi-projective varieties constructed by the authors is used to express the generating series of classes of Hilbert schemes of zero-dimensional subschemes on a smooth quasi-projective variety as an exponent of that for the complex affine space of the same dimension. Specializations of this relation give formulae for generating series of such invariants of the Hilbert schemes of points as the Euler characteristic and the Hodge-Deligne polynomial.
We study the Chevalley-Warning problem in the Grothendieck ring $K_0(Var/k)$. We show that the $\A^1$-homotopy theory yields well defined invariants on $K_0(Var/k)/\bold{L}$, in particular the Brauer group is such an invariant. We use this to give a concrete counter-example to the Chevalley-Warning conjecture over a $C_1$-field (Brown and Schnetz, 2011). This also gives a negative answer to the question in Bilgin (2011).
We formulate and prove Serre's equivalence for $\mathbb{Z}$-graded rings. When restricted to the usual case of $\mathbb{N}$-graded rings, our version of Serre's equivalence also sharpens the usual one by replacing the condition that $A$ be generated by $A_1$ over $A_0$ by a more natural condition, which we call the Cartier condition. For $\mathbb{Z}$-graded rings coming from flips and flops, this Cartier condition relates more naturally to the geometry of the flip/flop in question. We also interpret Grothendieck duality as an instance of Greenlees-May duality for graded rings. These form the b…
Let $\operatorname{K}_0(\operatorname{Var}_k)$ denote the Grothendieck ring of $k$-varieties over an algebraically closed field $k$. Larsen and Lunts asked if two $k$-varieties having the same class in $\operatorname{K}_0 (\operatorname{Var}_k)$ are piecewise isomorphic. Gromov asked if a birational self-map of a $k$-variety can be extended to a piecewise automorphism. We show that these two questions are equivalent over any algebraically closed field. If these two questions admit a positive answer, then we prove that its underlying abelian group is a free abelian group. Furthermore, if $\math…
We establish a formula for the classes of certain tori in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, in terms of its lambda-structure. More explicitly, we will see that if L* is the torus of invertible elements in the n-dimensional separable k-algebra L, then the class of L* can be expressed as an alternating sum of the images of the spectrum of L under the lambda-operations, multiplied by powers of the Lefschetz class. This formula is suggested from the cohomology of the torus, illustrating a heuristic method that can be used in other situations. To prove the formula will require some rather explici…
We consider the abelian group $PT$ generated by quasi-equivalence classes of pretriangulated DG categories with relations coming from semi-orthogonal decompositions of corresponding triangulated categories. We introduce an operation of "multiplication" $\bullet$ on the collection of DG categories which makes this abelian group into a commutative ring. A few applications are considered: representability of "standard" functors between derived categories of coherent sheaves on smooth projective varieties and a construction of an interesting motivic measure.
We obtain some fundamental results, as Bokstedt-Neeman Theorem and Grothendieck duality, about the derived category of modules on a finite ringed space. Then we see how these results are transfered to schemes in a simple way and generalized to other ringed spaces.
Let R be a regular local ring, containing an infinite field. Let G be a reductive group scheme over R. We prove that a principal G-bundle over R is trivial, if it is trivial over the fraction field of R.
In a series of papers [Pan0], [Pan1], [Pan2], [Pan3] we give a detailed and better structured proof of the Grothendieck--Serre's conjecture for semi-local regular rings containing a finite field. The outline of the proof is the same as in [P1],[P2],[P3]. If the semi-local regular ring contains an infinite field, then the conjecture is proved in [FP]. Thus the conjecture is true for regular local rings containing a field. A proof of Grothendieck--Serre conjecture on principal bundles over a semi-local regular ring containing an arbitrary field is given in [Pan3]. That proof is heavily based on …
Let R be a regular local ring, containing a finite field. Let G be a reductive group scheme over R. We prove that a principal G-bundle over R is trivial, if it is trivial over the fraction field of R. In other words, if K is the fraction field of R, then the map of pointed sets H^1_{et}(R,G) \to H^1_{et}(K,G), induced by the inclusion of R into K, has a trivial kernel. Certain arguments used in the present preprint do not work if the ring R contains a characteristic zero field. In that case and, more generally, in the case when the regular local ring R contains an infinite field this result is…
We give a criterion for extending a generically semisimple (not necessarily conformal) Frobenius manifold locally near a smooth point of the discriminant to a cohomological field theory. As an application, we show that a large set of tautological relations related to the Givental--Teleman classification for any generically semisimple cohomological field theories follow from Pixton's generalized Faber--Zagier relations.
In this paper, we discuss the problem of whether the difference $[X]-[Y]$ of the classes of a Fourier--Mukai pair $(X, Y)$ of smooth projective varieties in the Grothendieck ring of varieties is annihilated by some power of the class $\mathbb{L} = [ \mathbb{A}^1 ]$ of the affine line. We give an affirmative answer for Fourier--Mukai pairs of very general K3 surfaces of degree 12. On the other hand, we prove that in each dimension greater than one, there exists an abelian variety such that the difference with its dual is not annihilated by any power of $\mathbb{L}$, thereby giving a negative an…
We prove a local duality for some schemes associated to a 2-dimensional complete local ring whose residue field is an n-dimensional local field in the sense of Kato-Parshin. Our results generalize the Saito works in the case n=0 and are applied to study the Bloch-Ogus complex for such rings in various cases.
In a series of papers [Pan0], [Pan1], [Pan2], [Pan3] we give a detailed and better structured proof of the Grothendieck--Serre's conjecture for semi-local regular rings containing a finite field. The outline of the proof is the same as in [P1],[P2],[P3]. If the semi-local regular ring contains an infinite field, then the conjecture is proved in [FP]. Thus the conjecture is true for regular local rings containing a field. The present paper is the one [Pan1] in that new series. Theorem 1.1 is one of the main result of the paper. It is also one of the key steps in the proof of the Grothendieck--S…
Let X be a projective hypersurface in P_k^n of degree d <= n. In this paper we study the relation between the class [X] in K_0(Var_k) and the existence of k-rational points. Using elementary geometric methods we show, for some particular X, that X(k) is nonempty if and only if [X] is equivalent to 1 modulo the class of the affine line in K_0(Var_k). More precisely we consider the following cases: a union of hyperplanes, a quadric, a cubic hypersurface with a singular k-rational point, and a quartic which is a union of two quadrics one of which being smooth.
We establish new structures on Grothendieck-Witt rings, including a GW(k)-module structure on the unit group GW(k)^x and a presentation of \ul{GW}^x as an infinite Gm-loop sheaf. Even though our constructions are motivated by speculations in stable A1-homotopy theory, our arguments are purely algebraic.
The geometric Frobenius morphism on smooth varieties is an fppf-fiber bundle. We study representations of the structure group scheme. In particular, we describe irreducible representations and compute its Grothendieck ring of finite dimensional representations.
We introduce a Grothendieck group of algebraic stacks (with affine stabilisers) analogous to the Grothendieck group of algebraic varieties. We then identify it with a certain localisation of the Grothendieck group of algebraic varieties. Several invariants of elements in this group are discussed. The most important is an extension of the Euler characteristic (of cohomology with compact support) but in characteristic zero we introduce invariants which are able to distinguish between classes with the same Euler characteristic. These invariants are actually defined on the completed localised Grot…
In this paper we solve a problem, originally raised by Grothendieck, on the transfer of Cohen-Macaulayness to tensor products of algebras over a field. As a prelude to this, we investigate the grade for some specific types of ideals that play a primordial role within the ideal structure of such constructions.
We consider the natural monoid structure on the set of quadratic rings over an arbitrary base scheme and characterize this monoid in terms of discriminants.
We discuss the notion of a power structure over a ring and the geometric description of the power structure over the Grothendieck ring of complex quasi-projective varieties and show some examples of applications to generating series of classes of configuration spaces (for example, nested Hilbert schemes of J. Cheah) and wreath product orbifolds.
The paper studies categories of definable subassignments with some category equivalences to semi-algebraic and constructible subsets of arc spaces of algebraic varieties. These materials allow us to compare the motivic measure of Cluckers-Loeser and the one of Denef-Loeser in certain classes of definable subassignments.
By reading a standard formula for the ring of Grothendieck differential operators in a derived way, we construct a derived (sheaf of) ring of Grothendieck differential operators for Noetherian schemes $X$ separated and finite-type over a base $S$, when the map $X \to S$ is finite tor-amplitude. Using this ring of differential operators, we (re-)develop the theory of $D$-modules from scratch and show an equivalence of categories between $D$-modules using our definition and crystals over the infinitesimal site.
We propose a suitable substitute for the classical Grothendieck ring of an algebraically closed field, in which any quasi-projective scheme is represented, while maintaining its non-reduced structure. This yields a more subtle invariant, called the schemic Grothendieck ring, in which we can formulate a form of integration resembling Kontsevich's motivic integration via arc schemes. In view of its more functorial properties, we can present a characteristic-free proof of the rationality of the geometric Igusa zeta series for certain hypersurfaces, thus generalizing the ground-breaking work on mo…
Let k be a field. Let K_0(V_k) denote the quotient of the free abelian group generated by the geometrically reduced varieties over k, modulo the relations of the form [X]=[X-Y]+[Y] whenever Y is a closed subvariety of X. Product of varieties makes K_0(V_k) into a ring. We prove that if the characteristic of k is zero, then K_0(V_k) is not a domain.
We propose a suitable substitute for the classical Grothendieck ring of an algebraically closed field, in which any quasi-projective scheme is represented, while maintaining its non-reduced structure. This yields a more subtle invariant, called the schemic Grothendieck ring, in which we can formulate a form of integration resembling Kontsevich's motivic integration via arc schemes. Whereas the original construction was via definability, we have translated in this paper everything into a topos-theoretic framework.
The subring of the Grothendieck ring of varieties generated by the graph hypersurfaces of quantum field theory maps to the monoid ring of stable birational equivalence classes of varieties. We show that the image of this map is the copy of Z generated by the class of a point. Thus, the span of the graph hypersurfaces in the Grothendieck ring is nearly killed by setting the Lefschetz motive L to zero, while it is known that graph hypersurfaces generate the Grothendieck ring over a localization of Z[L] in which L becomes invertible. In particular, this shows that the graph hypersurfaces do not g…
We prove some results connecting the zeta functions of varieties over finite fields with the big Witt ring over $\mathbb Z$. We explore relations with motivic measures and a classical formula of Macdonald on invariants of symmetric products of a variety.
Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group. Let $\mathcal{E}\rightarrow \mathcal{B}$ be a principal $G\times G$-bundle and $X$ be a regular compactification of $G$. We describe the Grothendieck ring of the associated fibre bundle $\mathcal{E}(X):=\mathcal{E}\times_{G\times G} X$, as an algebra over the Grothendieck ring of a canonical toric bundle over a flag bundle on $\mathcal{B}$. These are relative versions of the results on equivariant $K$-theory of regular compactifications of $G$. They also generalize the well known results on the Grothendieck rings of projective bundles, toric bu…
We construct geometric lifts of the Bost-Connes algebra to Grothendieck rings and to the associated assembler categories and spectra, as well as to certain categories of Nori motives. These categorifications are related to the integral Bost-Connes algebra via suitable Euler characteristic type maps and zeta functions, and in the motivic case via fiber functors. We also discuss aspects of F1-geometry, in the framework of torifications, that fit into this general setting.
We construct a family of additive endomorphisms $Ψ_k, k=1, 2...$ of the Grothendieck ring of quasiprojective varieties and the Grothendieck ring of Chow motives similar to the Adams operations in the K-theory. The speciality of the $λ$-structure on the Grothendieck ring of motives (proved by F. Heinloth) gives a set of natural equations for these operations. We discuss this construction in a general setting and relate it to the concept of power structures introduced by S. Gusein-Zade, I. Luengo and A. Melle-Hernandez. Some interpretation of the E. Getzler's formula for the equivariant Hodge-De…
We discuss a conjecture saying that derived equivalence of simply connected smooth projective varieties implies that the difference of their classes in the Grothendieck ring of varieties is annihilated by a power of the affine line class. We support the conjecture with a number of known examples, and one new example. We consider a smooth complete intersection $X$ of three quadrics in ${\mathbf P}^5$ and the corresponding double cover $Y \to {\mathbf P}^2$ branched over a sextic curve. We show that as soon as the natural Brauer class on $Y$ vanishes, so that $X$ and $Y$ are derived equivalent, …
