Let $X$ and $Y$ be nonsingular projective varieties over an algebraically closed field $k$ of positive characteristic. If $X$ and $Y$ are birational, we show their $S$-fundamental group schemes are isomorphic.
Bershadsky, Cecotti, Ooguri and Vafa constructed a real valued invariant for Calabi-Yau manifolds, which is now called the BCOV invariant. The BCOV invariant is conjecturally related to the Gromov-Witten theory via mirror symmetry. Based upon previous work of the second author, we prove the conjecture that birational Calabi-Yau manifolds have the same BCOV invariant. We also extend the construction of the BCOV invariant to Calabi-Yau varieties with Kawamata log terminal singularities, and prove its birational invariance for Calabi-Yau varieties with canonical singularities. We provide an interpretation of our construction using the theory of motivic integration.
Let k be a number field, and let S be a finite set of k-rational points of P^1. We relate the Deligne-Goncharov contruction of the motivic fundamental group of X:=P^1_k- S to the Tannaka group scheme of the category of mixed Tate motives over X.
We propose a perturbation method for determining the (largest) group of invariance of a toric ideal defined in Aoki and Takemura [2008a]. In the perturbation method, we investigate how a generic element in the row space of the configuration defining a toric ideal is mapped by a permutation of the indeterminates. Compared to the proof in Aoki and Takemura [2008a] which was based on stabilizers of a subset of indeterminates, the perturbation method gives a much simpler proof of the group of invariance. In particular, we determine the group of invariance for a general hierarchical model of contingency tables in statistics, under the assumption that the numbers of the levels of the factors are generic. We prove that it is a wreath product indexed by a poset related to the intersection poset of the maximal interaction effects of the model.
Relying on a notion of numerical effectiveness for Higgs bundles, we show that the category of numerically flat Higgs vector bundles on a smooth projective variety $X$ is a Tannakian category. We introduce the associated group scheme, that we call the Higgs fundamental group scheme of $X$, and show that its properties are related to a conjecture about the vanishing of the Chern classes of numerically flat Higgs vector bundles.
Given a smooth and separated K(pi,1) variety X over a field k, we associate a cycle class in etale cohomology with compact supports to any continuous section of the natural map from the arithmetic fundamental group of X to the absolute Galois group of k. We discuss the algebraicity of this class in the case of curves over p-adic fields, and deduce in particular a new proof of Stixs theorem according to which the index of a curve X over a p-adic field k must be a power of p as soon as the natural map from the arithmetic fundamental group of X to the absolute Galois group of k admits a section. Finally, an etale adaptation of Beilinsons geometrization of the pronilpotent completion of the topological fundamental group allows us to lift this cycle class in suitable cohomology groups.