Using the machinery of etale homotopy theory a' la Artin-Mazur we determine the etale homotopy types of moduli stacks over $\bar{\Q}$ parametrizing families of algebraic curves of genus g greater than 1 endowed with an action of a finite group G of automorphisms, which comes with a fixed embedding in the mapping class group, such that in the associated complex analytic situation the action of G is precisely the differentiable action induced by this specified embedding of G in the mapping class group.
In 1969 Artin and Mazur defined the étale homotopy type of an algebraic variety \cite{AMa69}. In this paper we define various obstructions to the local-global principle on a variety $X$ over a global field using the étale homotopy type of $X$ and the concept of homotopy fixed points. We investigate relations between those "homotopy obstructions" and connect them to various known obstructions such as the Brauer -Manin obstruction, the étale-Brauer obstruction and finite descent obstructions. This gives a reinterpretation of known arithmetic obstructions in terms of homotopy theory.
We construct a model structure on simplicial profinite sets such that the homotopy groups carry a natural profinite structure. This yields a rigid profinite completion functor for spaces and pro-spaces. One motivation is the étale homotopy theory of schemes in which higher profinite étale homotopy groups fit well with the étale fundamental group which is always profinite. We show that the profinite étale topological realization functor is a good object in several respects.
Anabelian geometry with etale homotopy types generalizes in a natural way classical anabelian geometry with etale fundamental groups. We show that, both in the classical and the generalized sense, any point of a smooth variety over a field k which is finitely generated over Q has a fundamental system of (affine) anabelian Zariski-neighbourhoods. This was predicted by Grothendieck in his letter to Faltings.
We determine the Artin-Mazur étale homotopy types of moduli stacks of polarised abelian schemes using transcendental methods and derive some arithmetic properties of the étale fundamental groups of these moduli stacks. Finally we analyse the Torelli morphism between the moduli stacks of algebraic curves and principally polarised abelian schemes from an étale homotopy point of view.
In this note we show that the protruncated shape of a spectral $\infty$-topos is a delocalization of its profinite stratified shape. This gives a way to reconstruct the extended étale homotopy groups (i.e., the non-profinitely complete étale homotopy groups) of a coherent scheme from its profinite Galois category.
In this work we shall introduce a new model structure on the category of pro-simplicial sheaves, which is very convenient for the study of étale homotopy. Using this model structure we define a pro-space associated to a topos, as a result of applying a derived functor. We show that our construction lifts Artin and Mazur's étale homotopy type [AM] in the relevant special case. Our definition extends naturally to a relative notion, namely, a pro-object associated to a map of topoi. This relative notion lifts the relative étale homotopy type that was used in [HaSc] for the study of obstructions t…
Let X be a Noetherian scheme of finite dimension and denote by rho the (additive inverse of the) morphism in SH(X) from S to Gm corresponding to the unit -1. Here SH(X) denotes the motivic stable homotopy category. We show that the category obtained by inverting rho in SH(X) is canonically equivalent to the (simplicial) local stable homotopy category of the site X_ret, by which we mean the small real etale site of X, comprised of etale schemes over X with the real etale topology. One immediate application is that SH(RR)[rho^-1] is equivalent to the classical stable homotopy category. In partic…
We show the vanishing of the second homotopy group of the étale homotopy type of a smooth connected algebraic group over a separably closed field, completed away from the characteristic. This is an algebraic analogue of a classical theorem of Elie Cartan. Based on this result, we establish an explicit formula for the similarly completed second homotopy group of a homogeneous space.
A new approach to étale homotopy theory is presented which applies to a much broader class of objects than previously existing approaches, namely it applies not only to all schemes (without any local Noetherian hypothesis), but also to arbitrary higher stacks on the étale site of such schemes, and in particular to all algebraic stacks. This approach also produces a more refined invariant, namely a pro-object in the infinity category of spaces, rather than in the homotopy category. We prove a profinite comparison theorem at this level of generality, which states that if $\mathcal{X}$ is an arbi…
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field, $l\neq\operatorname{char} k$ a prime number, and $X$ a quasi-projective scheme over $k$. We show that the étale homotopy type of the $d$th symmetric power of $X$ is $\mathbb Z/l$-homologically equivalent to the $d$th strict symmetric power of the étale homotopy type of $X$. We deduce that the $\mathbb Z/l$-local étale homotopy type of a motivic Eilenberg-Mac Lane space is an ordinary Eilenberg-Mac Lane space.
We complete the program, initiated in [6], to compare the many different possible definitions of the underlying homotopy type of a log scheme. We show that, up to profinite completion, they all yield the same result, and thus arrive at an unambiguous definition of the profinite homotopy type of a log scheme. Specifically, in [6], we define this to be the profinite étale homotopy type of the infinite root stack, and show that, over $\mathbb{C},$ this agrees up to profinite completion with the Kato-Nakayama space. Other possible candidates are the profinite shape of the Kummer étale site $X_{\mb…
We show that the existence of rational points on smooth varieties over a field can be detected using homotopy fixed points of etale topological types under the Galois action. As our main example we show that the surjectivity statement in Grothendieck's Section Conjecture would follow from the surjectivity of the map from fixed points to continuous homotopy fixed points on the level of connected components. Along the way we define a new model for the continuous etale homotopy fixed point space of a smooth variety over a field under the Galois action.
Extending a result of Schröer on a Grothendieck question in the context of complex analytic spaces, we prove that the surjectivity of the Brauer map $δ: Br(X) \rightarrow H_{\rm ét}^2(X,\mathbb{G}_{m, X})_{\rm tor}$ for algebraic schemes depends on their étale homotopy type. We use properties of algebraic $K(π, 1)$ spaces to apply this to some classes of proper and smooth algebraic schemes. In particular we recover a result of Hoobler and Berkovich for abelian varieties. Further, we give an additional condition for the surjectivity of $δ$ which involves pro-universal covers. All proposed condi…
The pro-étale fundamental group of a scheme, introduced by Bhatt and Scholze, generalizes the usual étale fundamental group $π_1^{\mathrm{et}}$ defined in SGA1 and leads to an interesting class of "geometric coverings" of schemes, generalizing finite étale covers. We prove exactness of the general homotopy sequence for the pro-étale fundamental group, i.e. that for a geometric point $\bar{s}$ on $S$ and a flat proper morphism $X \rightarrow S$ of finite presentation whose geometric fibres are connected and reduced, the sequence $$ π_1^{\mathrm{proet}}(X_{\bar{s}}) \rightarrow π_1^{\mathrm{proe…
In 2010, Poonen gave the first example of failure of the local-global principle that cannot be explained by Skorobogatov's étale Brauer-Manin obstruction. Motivated by this example, we show that the Brauer-Manin obstruction detects non-existence of rational points on a sufficiently fine Zariski open cover of any variety over an imaginary quadratic or totally real field. We provide some evidence for why this is expected to happen more generally over any number field, some of which relates to the section conjecture in anabelian geometry. We then prove a result about the behavior of the étale Bra…
For a scheme X, denote by SH(X_et^hyp) the stabilization of the hypercompletion of its etale infty-topos, and by SH_et(X) the localization of the stable motivic homotopy category SH(X) at the (desuspensions of) etale hypercovers. For a stable infty-category C, write C_p^comp for the p-completion of C. We prove that under suitable finiteness hypotheses, and assuming that p is invertible on X, the canonical functor e_p^comp: SH(X_et^hyp)_p^comp -> SH_et(X)_p^comp is an equivalence of infty-categories. The primary novelty of our argument is that we use the pro-etale topology to construct directly…
We show that there is a stable homotopy theory of profinite spaces and use it for two main applications. On the one hand we construct an étale topological realization of the stable motivic homotopy theory of smooth schemes over a base field of arbitrary characteristic in analogy to the complex realization functor for fields of characteristic zero. On the other hand we get a natural setting for étale cohomology theories. In particular, we define and discuss an étale topological cobordism theory for schemes. It is equipped with an Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence starting from étale cohomolog…
We prove that every algebraic stack, locally of finite type over an algebraically closed field with affine stabilizers, is étale-locally a quotient stack in a neighborhood of a point with a linearly reductive stabilizer group. The proof uses an equivariant version of Artin's algebraization theorem proved in the appendix. We provide numerous applications of the main theorems.
We compute the (stable) étale cohomology of $\mathrm{Hom}_{n}(C, \mathcal{P}(\vecλ))$, the moduli stack of degree $n$ morphisms from a smooth projective curve $C$ to the weighted projective stack $\mathcal{P}(\vecλ)$, the latter being a stacky quotient defined by $\mathcal{P}(\vecλ) := \left[\mathbb{A}^N-\{0\}/\mathbb{G}_m\right]$, where $\mathbb{G}_m$ acts by weights $\vecλ = (λ_0, \cdots, λ_N) \in \mathbb{Z}^N_{+}$. Our key ingredient is formulating and proving the étale cohomological descent over the category $ΔS$, the symmetric (semi)simplicial category. An immediate arithmetic consequence…
We define the notion of {\em classifying space} of a topological stack and show that every topological stack \X has a classifying space X which is a topological space well-defined up to weak homotopy equivalence. Under a certain paracompactness condition on \X, we show that X is actually well-defined up to homotopy equivalence. These results are formulated in terms of functors from the category of topological stacks to the (weak) homotopy category of topological spaces. We prove similar results for (small) diagrams of topological stacks.
We compute the étale cohomology groups H^i(X,G_m) in several cases, where X is a smooth tame Deligne-Mumford stack of dimension 1 over an algebraically closed field. We have complete results for orbicurves (and, more generally, for twisted nodal curves) and in the case all stabilizers are cyclic; we give some partial results and examples in the general case. In particular we show that if the stabilizers are abelian then H^2(X, G_m) does not depend on X but only on the underlying orbicurve and on the generic stabilizer.
We give a homotopy theoretic characterization of stacks on a site $\cC$ as the {\it homotopy sheaves} of groupoids on $\cC$. We use this characterization to construct a model category in which stacks are the fibrant objects. We compare different definitions of stacks and show that they lead to Quillen equivalent model categories. In addition, we show that these model structures are Quillen equivalent to the $S^2$-nullification of Jardine's model structure on sheaves of simplicial sets on $\cC$.
Étale cohomology with non-invertible coefficients has some unpleasant properties, e.g., it is not A^1-homotopy invariant and for constructible coefficients the expected finiteness properties do not hold. In this paper we introduce the `tame site' which is slightly coarser than the étale site. Tame cohomology coincides with étale cohomology for invertible coefficients but is better behaved in the general case. The fundamental group of the tame site is the (curve-)tame fundamental group of Wiesend and Kerz/Schmidt. The higher tame homotopy groups hopefully have a better behaviour than the higher…
We introduce stacks classifying étale germs of pointed n-dimensional varieties. We show that quasi-coherent sheaves on these stacks are universal D- and O-modules. We state and prove a relative version of Artin's approximation theorem, and as a consequence identify our stacks with classifying stacks of automorphism groups of the n-dimensional formal disc. We introduce the notion of convergent universal modules, and study them in terms of these stacks and the representation theory of the automorphism groups.
For a log scheme locally of finite type over $\mathbb{C}$, a natural candidate for its profinite homotopy type is the profinite completion of its Kato-Nakayama space. Alternatively, one may consider the profinite homotopy type of the underlying topological stack of its infinite root stack. Finally, for a log scheme not necessarily over $\mathbb{C}$, another natural candidate is the profinite étale homotopy type of its infinite root stack. We prove that, for a fine saturated log scheme locally of finite type over $\mathbb{C}$, these three notions agree. In particular, we construct a comparison …
We show that a conjecture by Lawson holds, that is, the inclusion from the Chow variety $C_{p,d}(P^n)$ of all effective algebraic p-cycles of degree d in n-dimensional projective space to the space of effective algebraic p-cycles is 2d-connected. As a result, the homotopy and homology groups of $C_{p,d}(P^n)$ are calculated up to 2d. We also show an analogous statement for Chow variety $C_{p,d}(¶^n)$ over algebraically closed fields of arbitrary characteristic and compute their etale homotopy groups up to 2d.
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field. Let $Λ$ be a noetherian commutative ring annihilated by an integer invertible in $k$ and let $\ell$ be a prime number different from the characteristic of $k$. We prove that if $X$ is a separated algebraic space of finite type over $k$ endowed with an action of a $k$-algebraic group $G$, the equivariant étale cohomology algebra $H^*([X/G],Λ)$, where $[X/G]$ is the quotient stack of $X$ by $G$, is finitely generated over $Λ$. Moreover, for coefficients $K \in D^+_c([X/G],\mathbb{F}_{\ell})$ endowed with a commutative multiplicative structure, we establi…
An old theorem of Charney and Lee says that the classifying space of the category of stable nodal topological surfaces and isotopy classes of degenerations has the same rational homology as the Deligne-Mumford compactification. We give an integral refinement: the classifying space of the Charney-Lee category actually has the same homotopy type as the moduli stack of stable curves, and the etale homotopy type of the moduli stack is equivalent to the profinite completion of the classifying space of the Charney-Lee category.
Let GO(2n) be the general orthogonal group (the group of similitudes) over any algebraically closed field of characteristic not equal to 2. We determine the etale cohomology ring with mod 2 coefficients of the algebraic stack BGO(2n). In the topological category, Y. Holla and N. Nitsure determined the singular cohomology ring of the classifying space BGO(2n) of the complex Lie group GO(2n) in terms of explicit generators and relations. We extend their results to the algebraic category. The chief ingredients in this are (i) an extension to etale cohomology of an idea of Totaro, originally used …
For a profinite group, we construct a model structure on profinite spaces and profinite spectra with a continuous action. This yields descent spectral sequences for the homotopy groups of homotopy fixed point space and for stable homotopy groups of homotopy orbit spaces. Our main example is the Galois action on profinite étale topological types of varieties over a field. One motivation is to understand Grothendieck's section conjecture in terms of homotopy fixed points.
Fix a scheme $S$ of characteristic $p$. Let $\mathscr{M}$ be an $S$-algebraic stack and let $\mbox{Fdiv}(\mathscr{M})$ be the stack of $\mbox{F}$-divided objects, that is sequences of objects $x_i\in\mathscr{M}$ with isomorphisms $σ_i:x_i\to \mbox{F}^*x_{i+1}$. Let $\mathscr{X}$ be a flat, finitely presented $S$-algebraic stack and $\mathscr{X}\to Π_1(\mathscr{X}/S)$ the étale fundamental pro-groupoid, constructed in the present text. We prove that if $\mathscr{M}$ is a quasi-separated Deligne-Mumford stack and $\mathscr{X}\to S$ has geometrically reduced fibres, there is a bifunctorial isomor…
Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $\mathcal{G}$ be a Bruhat-Tits group scheme on $X$ which is generically semi-simple and trivial. We show that the étale fundamental group of the moduli stack $\mathcal{M}_X(\mathcal{G})$ of torsors under $\mathcal{G}$ is isomorphic to that of the moduli stack $\mathcal{M}_X(G)$ of principal $G$-bundles. For any smooth, noetherian and irreducible stack $\mathcal{X}$, we show that an inclusion of an open substack $\mathcal{X}^\circ$, whose complement has codimension at least two, will induce an isomorphism of étale …
We study the homotopy type of the simplicial set of continuous semi-algebraic simplexes of an algebraic variety defined over a real closed field, which we will call the real homotopy type. We prove an analogue of the theorem of Artin-Mazur comparing the real homotopy type with the étale homotopy type. This paper is part one of a sequence of papers on this topic.
In this paper, we study Azumaya algebras and Brauer groups in derived algebraic geometry. We establish various fundamental facts about Brauer groups in this setting, and we provide a computational tool, which we use to compute the Brauer group in several examples. In particular, we show that the Brauer group of the sphere spectrum vanishes, and we use this to prove two uniqueness theorems for the stable homotopy category. Our key technical results include the local geometricity, in the sense of Artin n-stacks, of the moduli space of perfect modules over a smooth and proper algebra, the étale l…
Unlike Grothendieck's étale fundamental group, Nori's fundamental group does not fulfill the homotopy exact sequence in general. We give necessary and sufficient conditions which force exactness of the sequence.
To any finite local embedding of Deligne--Mumford stacks $g: Y\to X$ we associate an étale, universally closed morphism $F_{Y/X}\to X$ such that for the complement $Y^2_X$ of the image of the diagonal $Y \to Y\times_XY$, the stack $F_{Y^2_X/Y}$ admits a canonical closed embedding in $F_{Y/X}$, and $F_{Y/X}\times_XY$ is a disjoint union of copies of $F_{Y^2_X/Y}$. The stack $F_{Y/X}$ has a natural functorial presentation, and the morphism $F_{Y/X}\to X$ commutes with base-change. The image of $Y^2_X$ in $Y$ is the locus of points where the morphism $Y \to g(Y)$ is not smooth. Thus for many prac…
Let G be a connected algebraic group and let [G,G] be its commutator subgroup. We prove a conjecture of Drinfeld about the existence of a connected etale group cover H of [G,G], characterized by the following properties: every central extension of G, by a finite etale group scheme, splits over H, and the commutator map of G lifts to H. We prove, moreover, that the quotient stack of G by the natural action of H is the universal Deligne-Mumford Picard stack to which G maps.
A separable, proper morphism of varieties with geometrically connected fibers induces a homotopy exact sequence relating the étale fundamental groups of source, target and fiber. Extending work of dos Santos, we prove the existence of an analogous homotopy exact sequence for fundamental group schemes classifying regular singular stratified bundles, under the additional assumption that the morphism in question can be (partially) compactified to a log smooth morphism.
Given a reductive group scheme $G$, we give a linear algebraic description of reduced étale $4$-cocycles on its classifying stack $\mathrm B(G)$. These cocycles form a $2$-groupoid, which we interpret as parameters of metaplectic covers of $G$. We use our linear algebraic description to define the Langlands dual of a metaplectic cover.
Given an algebraic stack $X$, one may compare the derived category of quasi-coherent sheaves on $X$ with the category of dg-modules over the dg-ring of functions on $X$. We study the analogous question in stable homotopy theory, for derived stacks that arise via realizations of diagrams of Landweber-exact homology theories. We identify a condition (quasi-affineness of the map to the moduli stack of formal groups) under which the two categories are equivalent, and study applications to topological modular forms. In particular, we provide new examples of Galois extensions of ring spectra and van…
We give a homotopy theoretic characterization of sheaves on a stack and, more generally, a presheaf of groupoids on an arbitary small site C. We use this to prove homotopy invariance and generalized descent statements for categories of sheaves and quasi-coherent sheaves. As a corollary we obtain an alternate proof of a generalized change of rings theorem of Hovey.
We establish that the geometric action of the absolute Galois group on the étale fundamental group of moduli spaces of curves induces a Galois action on its stack inertia subgroups, and that this action is given by cyclotomy conjugacy. This result extends the special case of inertia without étale factorisation previously established by the authors. It is here obtained in the general case by comparing deformations of Galois actions. Since the stack inertia corresponds to the first level of the stack stratification of the space, this results, by analogy with the arithmetic of the Deligne-Mumford…
In this note we show that an Artin stack with finite inertia stack is etale locally isomorphic to the quotient of an affine scheme by an action of a general linear group.
We prove two flat descent statements for Artin n-stacks. We first show that an n-stack for the etale topology which is an Artin n-stack in the sense of HAGII, is also an n-stack for the fppf topology. Moreover, an n-stack for the fppf topology which possess a fppf n-atlas is an Artin n-stack (i.e. possesses a smooth n-atlas). We deduce from these results some comparison statements between fppf and etale (non-ablelian) cohomolgies. This paper is written in the setting of derived algebraic geometry and its results are also valid for derived Artin n-stacks.
