Let X be a Shimura curve of genus zero. In this paper, we first characterize the spaces of automorphic forms on X in terms of Schwarzian differential equations. We then devise a method to compute Hecke operators on these spaces. An interesting by-product of our analysis is the evaluation and other similar identities.

In this work, we set up a theory of p-adic modular forms over Shimura curves over totally real fields which allows us to consider also non-integral weights. In particular, we define an analogue of the sheaves of kth invariant differentials over the Shimura curves we are interested in, for any p-adic character. In this way, we are able to introduce the notion of overconvergent modular form of any p-adic weight. Moreover, our sheaves can be put in p-adic families over a suitable rigid analytic space, that parametrizes the weights. Finally, we define Hecke operators, including the U operator, that acts compactly on the space of overconvergent modular forms. We also construct the eigencurve.

We compute the center of the ring of PD differential operators on a smooth variety over ℤ/pnℤ, confirming a conjecture of Kaledin (private communication). More generally, given an associative algebra A0 over ℤp and its flat deformation An over ℤ/pn+1ℤ, we prove that under a certain non-degeneracy condition, the center of An is isomorphic to the ring of length-(n+1) Witt vectors over the center of A0.

We study the stable pairs theory of local curves in 3-folds with descendent insertions. The rationality of the partition function of descendent invariants is established for the full local curve geometry (equivariant with respect to the scaling 2-torus), including relative conditions and odd-degree insertions for higher-genus curves. The capped 1-leg descendent vertex (equivariant with respect to the 3-torus) is also proven to be rational. The results are obtained by combining geometric constraints with a detailed analysis of the poles of the descendent vertex.

We prove for a large family of rings R that their λ-pure global dimension is greater than one for each infinite regular cardinal λ. This answers in the negative a problem posed by Rosický. The derived categories of such rings then do not satisfy, for any λ, the Adams λ-representability for morphisms. Equivalently, they are examples of well-generated triangulated categories whose λ-abelianization in the sense of Neeman is not a full functor for any λ. In particular, we show that given a compactly generated triangulated category, one may not be able to find a Rosický functor among the λ-abelianization functors.

The well-known fiber dimension theorem in algebraic geometry says that for every morphism f:X→Y of integral schemes of finite type the dimension of every fiber of f is at least dim X−dim Y. This has recently been generalized by Brosnan, Reichstein and Vistoli to certain morphisms of algebraic stacks f:𝒳→𝒴, where the usual dimension is replaced by essential dimension. We will prove a general version for morphisms of categories fibered in groupoids. Moreover, we will prove a variant of this theorem, where essential dimension and canonical dimension are linked. These results let us relate essential dimension to canonical dimension of algebraic groups. In particular, using the recent computation of the essential dimension of algebraic tori by MacDonald, Meyer, Reichstein and the author, we establish a lower bound on the canonical dimension of algebraic tori.