We prove a generalization of Shafarevichs Conjecture for fields of Laurent series in two variables over an arbitrary field. While not projective, the absolute Galois group of such a field is shown to be semi-free. We also show that the function field of a smooth projective curve over a large field has semi-free absolute Galois group. In the first edition of this paper it was shown that these groups are quasi-free, which is weaker.
We classify simple groups that act by birational transformations on compact complex Kahler surfaces. Moreover, we show that every finitely generated simple group that acts non-trivially by birational transformations on a projective surface over an arbitrary field is finite.
We study the relationship between the local and global Galois theory of function fields over a complete discretely valued field. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for local separable extensions to descend to global extensions, and for the local absolute Galois group to inject into the global absolute Galois group. As an application we obtain a local-global principle for the index of a variety over such a function field. In this context we also study algebra
We study the Hodge filtration on the local cohomology sheaves of a smooth complex algebraic variety along a closed subscheme Z in terms of log resolutions, and derive applications regarding the local cohomological dimension, the Du Bois complex, local vanishing, and reflexive differentials associated to Z.
In this paper, we study the actions of profinite groups on Cantor sets which arise from representations of Galois groups of certain fields of rational functions. Such representations are associated to polynomials, and they are called profinite iterated monodromy groups. We are interested in a topological invariant of such actions called the asymptotic discriminant. In particular, we give a complete classification by whether the asymptotic discriminant is stable or wild in the case when the polynomial generating the representation is quadratic. We also study different ways in which a wild asymptotic discriminant can arise.