We study Weil-etale cohomology, introduced by Lichtenbaum for varieties over finite fields. In the first half of the paper we give an explicit description of the base change from Weil-etale cohomology to etale cohomology. As a consequence, we get a long exact sequence relating Weil-etale cohomology to etale cohomology, show that for finite coefficients the cohomology theories agree, and with rational coefficients a Weil-etale cohomology group is the direct sum of two etale cohomology groups.
In the second half of the paper we restrict ourselves to Weil-etale cohomology of the motivic complex. We show that for smooth projective varieties over finite fields, finite generation of Weil-etale cohomology is equivalent to Weil-etale cohomology being an integral model of l-adic cohomology, and also equivalent to the conjunction of Tate's conjecture and (rational) equality of rational and numerical equivalence. We give several examples where these conjectures hold, and express special values of zeta functions in terms of Weil-etale cohomology.
We define the fundamental group underlying to Lichtenbaum's Weil-étale cohomology for number rings. To this aim, we define the Weil-étale topos as a refinement of the Weil-étale sites introduced in \cite{Lichtenbaum}. We show that the (small) Weil-étale topos of a smooth projective curve defined in this paper is equivalent to the natural definition given in \cite{Lichtenbaum-finite-field}. Then we compute the Weil-étale fundamental group of an open subscheme of the spectrum of a number ring. Our fundamental group is a projective system of locally compact topological groups, which represents fi…
We calculate the total derived functor for the map from the Weil-etale site introduced by Lichtenbaum to the etale site for varieties over finite fields. In particular, there is a long exact sequence relating Weil-etale cohomology and etale cohomology. In the second half of the paper, we apply this to study the Weil-etale cohomology of the motivic complex for smooth and projective varieties. These groups are expected to be finitely generated, to give an integral model for l-adic cohomology, and to be related to special values of the zeta function. We give necessary and sufficient conditions fo…
We discuss the structure of integral etale motivic cohomology groups of smooth and projective schemes over algebraically closed fields, finite fields, local fields, and arithmetic schemes.
We construct the Weil-étale cohomology and Euler characteristics for a subclass of the class of $\mathbb{Z}$-constructible sheaves on the spectrum of the ring of integers of a totally imaginary number field. Then we show that the special value of an Artin L-function of toric type at zero is given by the Weil-étale Euler characteristic of an appropriate $\mathbb{Z}$-constructible sheaf up to signs. As applications of our result, we will derive some classical formulas of special values of L-functions of tori and their class numbers.
We give a reformulation of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture over global function fields in terms of Weil-etale cohomology of the curve with coefficients in the Neron model, and show that it holds under the assumption of finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich group.
We establish duality results for the cohomology of the Weil group of a $p$-adic field, analogous to, but more general than, results from Galois cohomology. We prove a duality theorem for discrete Weil modules, which implies Tate-Nakayama Duality. We define Weil-smooth cohomology for varieties over local fields, and prove a duality theorem for the cohomology of $\G_m$ on a smooth, proper curve with a rational point. This last theorem is analogous to, and implies, a classical duality theorem for such curves.
We define and study a Weil-étale topos for any regular, proper scheme $X$ over $\Spec(Z)$ which has some of the properties suggested by Lichtenbaum for such a topos. In particular, the cohomology with $R$-coefficients has the expected relation to $ζ(X,s)$ at $s=0$ if the Hasse-Weil L-functions $L(h^i(X_Q),s)$ have the expected meromorphic continuation and functional equation. If $\X$ has characteristic $p$ the cohomology with $Z$-coefficients also has the expected relation to $ζ(X,s)$ and our cohomology groups recover those previously studied by Lichtenbaum and Geisser.
We give a direct description of the category of sheaves on Lichtenbaum's Weil-étale site of a number ring. Then we apply this result to define a spectral sequence relating Weil-étale cohomology to Artin-Verdier étale cohomology. Finally we construct complexes of étale sheaves computing the expected Weil-étale cohomology.
We would like to construct a new Grothendieck topology for arithmetic schemes, whose cohomology groups associated with motivic complexes of sheaves are finitely generated and whose Euler characteristics are related to special values of zeta-functions. In this paper we construct this topology for rings of algebraic integers and show that the cohomology of the constant sheaf Z is related to the behavior of zeta-functions at s = 0.
Let X be a smooth or proper variety defined over a finite field. The geometric etale fundamental group of X is a normal subgroup of the Weil group, so conjugation gives it a Weil action. We consider the pro-Q_l-algebraic completion of the fundamental group as a non-abelian Weil representation. Lafforgue's Theorem and Deligne's Weil II theorems imply that this affine group scheme is mixed, in the sense that its structure sheaf is a mixed Weil representation. When X is smooth, weight restrictions apply, affecting the possibilities for the structure of this group. This gives new examples of group…
We give a conjectural description of the vanishing order and leading Taylor coefficient of the Zeta function of a proper, regular arithmetic scheme $\mathcal{X}$ at any integer $n$ in terms of Weil-étale cohomology complexes. This extends work of Lichtenbaum \cite{Lichtenbaum05} and Geisser \cite{Geisser04b} for $\mathcal{X}$ of characteristic $p$, of Lichtenbaum \cite{li04} for $\mathcal{X}=\mathrm{Spec}(\mathcal{O}_F)$ and $n=0$ where $F$ is a number field, and of the second author for arbitrary $\mathcal{X}$ and $n=0$ \cite{Morin14}. We show that our conjecture is compatible with the Tamaga…
In this article, we first briefly introduce the history of the Weil-étale cohomology theory of arithmetic schemes and review some important results established by Lichtenbaum, Flach and Morin. Next we generalize the Weil-etale cohomology to $S$-integers and compute the cohomology for constant sheaves $\mathbb{Z}$ or $\mathbb{R}$. We also define a Weil-étale cohomology with compact support $H_c(Y_W, -)$ for $Y=Spec \mathcal{O}_{F,S}$ where $F$ is a number field, and computed them. We verify that these cohomology groups satisfy the axioms state by Lichtenbaum. As an application, we derive a cano…
Lichtenbaum has conjectured the existence of a Grothendieck topology for an arithmetic scheme $X$ such that the Euler characteristic of the cohomology groups of the constant sheaf $\mathbb{Z}$ with compact support at infinity gives, up to sign, the leading term of the zeta-function $ζ_X(s)$ at $s=0$. In this paper we consider the category of sheaves $\bar{X}_L$ on this conjectural site for $X=Spec(\mathcal{O}_F)$ the spectrum of a number ring. We show that $\bar{X}_L$ has, under natural topological assumptions, a well defined fundamental group whose abelianization is isomorphic, as a topologic…
We construct the Weil-étale cohomology and Euler characteristics for a subclass of the class of $\mathbb{Z}$-constructible sheaves on an open subscheme of the spectrum of the ring of integers of a number field. Then we show that the special value of an Artin L-function of toric type at zero is given by the Weil-étale Euler characteristic of an appropriate $\mathbb{Z}$-constructible sheaf up to signs. As applications of our result, we will prove a formula for the special value of the L-function of an algebraic torus at zero which is similar to Ono's Tamagawa Number Formula.
The purpose of this paper is to give a formula for the leading coefficient at $s=1$ of the $L$-function of one-motives over function fields in terms of Weil-étale cohomology, generalizing the Weil-étale version of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture in the authors' previous work. As a consequence we express the Tamagawa number of a torus introduced by Ono-Oesterlé in terms of Weil-étale cohomology, and reprove their Tamagawa number formula.
In this paper we use ideas of the non-abelian Iwasawa main conjecture to prove a result about the first Galois cohomology of continuous Galois modules V_p(j) for large Tate-twist j and V_p a Q_p vector space. We show that under a technical hypothesis that H^1(K, V_p(j)) is generated by twists of norm-compatible units in an infinite tower of number fields with elements in V_p(j-1). This confirms a consequence of the non-abelian Iwasawa main conjecture. Using the "Bloch-Kato-conjecture" a similar result is proven for motivic cohomology with finite coefficients.
We prove a general inequality for estimating the number of points of arbitrary complete intersections over a finite field. This extends a result of Deligne for nonsingular complete intersections. For normal complete intersections, this inequality generalizes also the classical Lang-Weil inequality. Moreover, we prove the Lang-Weil inequality for affine as well as projective varieties with an explicit description and a bound for the constant appearing therein. We also prove a conjecture of Lang and Weil concerning the Picard varieties and étale cohomology spaces of projective varieties. The gen…
We discuss several conjectures about derived equivalent varieties, defined over fields of arbitrary characteristics, and implications among them. In particular we show that the (conjectural) derived invariance of the Hasse-Weil Zeta functions of smooth projective varieties over finite fields, implies the derived invariance of the Hodge diamond of complex algebraic varieties.
We discuss duality pairings on integral étale motivic cohomology groups of regular and proper schemes over algebraically closed fields, local fields, finite fields, and arithmetic schemes.
The classical Chevalley-Weil theorem asserts that for an étale covering of projective varieties over a number field K, the discriminant of the field of definition of the fiber over a K-rational point is uniformly bounded. We obtain a fully explicit version of this theorem in dimension 1.
We construct an intermediate cohmology between motivic cohomology and Weil-etale cohomology. Using this, the Bass conjecture on finite generation of motivic cohomology, and the Beilinson-Tate on the finite generation of Weil-etale cohomology are related.
We give a new formula for the special value at s=2 of the Hasse-Weil zeta function for smooth projective fourfolds under some assumptions (the Tate and Beilinson conjecture, finiteness of some cohomology groups, etc.). Our formula may be considered as a generalization of the Artin-Tate(-Milne) formula for smooth surfaces, and expresses the special zeta value almost exclusively in terms of inner geometric invariants such as higher Chow groups (motivic cohomology groups). Moreover we compare our formula with Geisser's formula for the same zeta value in terms of Weil-étale motivic cohomology grou…
Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic p>0. Let W(k) be the ring of Witt vectors with coefficients in k. We prove a motivic conjecture of Milne that relates, in the case of abelian schemes, the étale cohomology with $\dbZ_p$ coefficients to the crystalline cohomology with integral coefficients, in the more general context of p-divisible groups endowed with {\it arbitrary} families of crystalline tensors over a finite, discrete valuation ring extension of W(k). This extends a result of Faltings in [Fa2]. As a main new tool we construct global deformations of p-divisible groups…
We investigate the action of the Weil group on the compactly supported l-adic etale cohomology groups of rigid spaces over a local field. We prove that the alternating sum of the traces of the action is an integer and is independent of l when either the rigid space is smooth or the characteristic of the base field is equal to 0. We modify the argument of T. Saito to prove a result on l-independence for nearby cycle cohomology, which leads to our l-independence result for smooth rigid spaces. In the general case, we use the finiteness theorem of R. Huber, which requires the restriction on the c…
Lichtenbaum conjectured the existence of a Weil-étale cohomology in order to describe the vanishing order and the special value of the Zeta function of an arithmetic scheme $\mathcal{X}$ at $s=0$ in terms of Euler-Poincaré characteristics. Assuming the (conjectured) finite generation of some étale motivic cohomology groups we construct such a cohomology theory for regular schemes proper over $\mathrm{Spec}(\mathbb{Z})$. In particular, we obtain (unconditionally) the right Weil-étale cohomology for geometrically cellular schemes over number rings. We state a conjecture expressing the vanishing …
We study the problem of describing local components of height functions on abelian varieties over characteristic $0$ local fields as functions on spaces of torsors under various realisations of a $2$-step unipotent motivic fundamental group naturally associated to the defining line bundle. To this end, we present three main theorems giving such a description in terms of the $\mathbb Q_\ell$- and $\mathbb Q_p$-pro-unipotent étale realisations when the base field is $p$-adic, and in terms of the $\mathbb R$-pro-unipotent Betti--de Rham realisation when the base field is archimedean. In the cours…
We prove, under some mild hypothesis, that an étale cover of curves defined over a number field has infinitely many specializations into an everywhere unramified extension of number fields. This constitutes an "absolute" version of the Chevalley-Weil theorem. Using this result, we are able to generalize the techniques of Mestre, Levin and the second author for constructing and counting number fields with large class group.
The statement of the Riemann hypothesis makes sense for all global fields, not just the rational numbers. For function fields, it has a natural restatement in terms of the associated curve. Weil's work on the Riemann hypothesis for curves over finite fields led him to state his famous "Weil conjectures", which drove much of the progress in algebraic and arithmetic geometry in the following decades. In this article, I describe Weil's work and some of the ensuing progress: Weil cohomology (etale, crystalline); Grothendieck's standard conjectures; motives; Deligne's proof; Hasse-Weil zeta functio…
We investigate several interrelated foundational questions pertaining to the study of motivic dga's of Dan-Cohen--Schlank [8] and Iwanari [13]. In particular, we note that morphisms of motivic dga's can reasonably be thought of as a nonabelian analog of motivic cohomology. Just as abelian motivic cohomology is a homotopy group of a spectrum coming from K-theory, the space of morphisms of motivic dga's is a certain limit of such spectra; we give an explicit formula for this limit --- a possible first step towards explicit computations or dimension bounds. We also consider commutative comonoids …
We prove that the triviality of the Galois action on the suitably twisted odd-dimensional étale cohomogy group of a smooth projective varietiy with finite coefficients implies the existence of certain primitive roots of unity in the field of definition of the variety. This text was inspired by an exercise in Serre's Lectures on the Mordell--Weil theorem.
We introduce new motivic invariants of arbitrary varieties over a perfect field. These cohomological invariants take values in the category of one-motives (considered up to isogeny in positive characteristic). The algebraic definition of these invariants presented here proves a conjecture of Deligne. Applications include some cases of conjectures of Serre, Katz and Jannsen on the independence of $\ell$ of parts of the étale cohomology of arbitrary varieties over number fields and finite fields.
Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic, and $f$ a dynamical correspondence of $X$. In 2016, the second author conjectured that the dynamical degrees of $f$ defined by the pullback actions on étale cohomology groups and on numerical cycle class groups are equivalent, which we call the dynamical degree comparison (DDC) conjecture. It contains the generalized Weil's Riemann hypothesis (for polarized endomorphisms) as a special case. To proceed, we introduce the so-called Conjecture $G_r$, which is a quantitative strengthening of the s…
This paper proposes a conjecture on special values of L-functions of geometric motives over Z. This includes L-functions of mixed motives over Q and Hasse-Weil zeta-functions of schemes over Z. We conjecture the following: the order of L(M, s) at s=0 is given by the negative Euler characteristic of motivic cohomology of $M^\vee(-1)$. Up to a nonzero rational factor, the L-value at s=0 is given by the determinant of the pairing of Arakelov motivic cohomology of M with the motivic homology of M. Under standard assumptions concerning mixed motives over Q, $F_p$, and Z, this conjecture is essentia…
