We compare the $K$-theory stable bases of the Springer resolution associated to different affine Weyl alcoves. We prove that (up to relabelling) the change of alcoves operators are given by the Demazure–Lusztig operators in the affine Hecke algebra. We then show that these bases are categorified by the Verma modules of the Lie algebra, under the localization of Lie algebras in positive characteristic of Bezrukavnikov, Mirković, and Rumynin. As an application, we prove that the wall-crossing matrices of the $K$-theory stable bases coincide with the monodromy matrices of the quantum cohomology of the Springer resolution.

In this paper we give an interpretation, in terms of derived de Rham complexes, of Scholze's de Rham period sheaf and Tan and Tong's crystalline period sheaf.

Consider the algebraic function $\Phi _{g,n}$ that assigns to a general $g$-dimensional abelian variety an $n$-torsion point. A question first posed by Klein asks: What is the minimal $d$ such that, after a rational change of variables, the function $\Phi _{g,n}$ can be written as an algebraic function of $d$ variables? Using techniques from the deformation theory of $p$-divisible groups and finite flat group schemes, we answer this question by computing the essential dimension and $p$-dimension of congruence covers of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties. We apply this result to compute the essential $p$-dimension of congruence covers of the moduli space of genus $g$ curves, as well as its hyperelliptic locus, and of certain locally symmetric varieties. These results include cases where the locally symmetric variety $M$ is proper. As far as we know, these are the first examples of nontrivial lower bounds on the essential dimension of an unramified, nonabelian covering of a proper algebraic variety.

Our main result is the $\mathbb {\mathcal {C}}^{0}$-rigidity of the area spectrum and the Maslov class of Lagrangian submanifolds. This relies on the existence of punctured pseudoholomorphic disks in cotangent bundles with boundary on the zero section, whose boundaries represent any integral homology class. We discuss further applications of these punctured disks in symplectic geometry.

We observe a fundamental relationship between Steenrod operations and the Artin–Schreier morphism. We use Steenrod's construction, together with some new geometry related to the affine Grassmannian, to prove that the quantum Coulomb branch is a Frobenius-constant quantization. We also demonstrate the corresponding result for the $K$-theoretic version of the quantum Coulomb branch. At the end of the paper, we investigate what our ideas produce on the categorical level. We find that they yield, after a little fiddling, a construction which corresponds, under the geometric Satake equivalence, to the Frobenius twist functor for representations of the Langlands dual group. We also describe the unfiddled answer, conditional on a conjectural ‘modular derived Satake’, and, though it is more complicated to state, it is in our opinion just as neat and even more compelling.