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Patrick Brosnan

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Brosnan.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2008

Singularities of admissible normal functions

In a recent paper, M. Green and P. Griffiths used R. Thomas' works on nodal hypersurfaces to establish the equivalence of the Hodge conjecture and the existence of certain singular admissible normal functions. Inspired by their work, we study normal functions using M. Saito's mixed Hodge modules and prove that the existence of singularities of the type considered by Griffiths and Green is equivalent to the Hodge conjecture. Several of the intermediate results, including a relative version of the weak Lefschetz theorem for perverse sheaves, are of independent interest.

math.AG↗
arXiv2007

Essential dimension and algebraic stacks

We define and study the essential dimension of an algebraic stack. We compute the essential dimension of the stacks Mgn and MgnBar of smooth, or stable, n-pointed curves of genus g. We also prove a general lower bound for the essential dimension of algebraic groups with a non-trivial center. Using this, we find new exponential lower bounds for the essential dimension of spin groups and new formulas for the essential dimension of some finite p-groups. Finally, we apply the lower bound for spin groups to the theory of the Witt ring of quadratic forms over a field k.

math.AG↗
arXiv2004

On motivic decompositions arising from the method of Bialynicki-Birula

Recently, V. Chernousov, S. Gille and A. Merkurjev have obtained a decomposition of the motive of an isotropic smooth projective homogeneous variety analogous to the Bruhat decomposition. Using the method of Bialynicki-Birula, I generalize this decomposition to the case of a (possibly anisotropic) smooth projective variety homogeneous under the action of an isotropic reductive group. This answers a question of N. Karpenko.

math.AG↗
arXiv2003

Periods and Igusa Zeta functions

We show that coefficients in the Laurent series of Igusa Zeta functions are periods. This will be used in a subsequent paper (by P. Brosnan) to show that certain numbers occurring in study of Feynman amplitudes (upto gamma factors) are periods.

math.NT↗
arXiv2000

Matroids, motives and conjecture of Kontsevich

Let G be a finite connected graph. The Kirchhoff polynomial of G is a certain homogeneous polynomial whose degree is equal to the first betti number of G. These polynomials appear in the study of electrical circuits and in the evaluation of Feynman amplitudes. Motivated by work of D. Kreimer and D. J. Broadhurst associating multiple zeta values to certain Feynman integrals, Kontsevich conjectured that the number of zeros of a Kirchhoff polynomial over the field with q elements is always a polynomial function of q. We show that this conjecture is false by relating the schemes defined by Kirchhoff polynomials to the representation spaces of matroids. Moreover, using Mnev's universality theorem, we show that these schemes essentially generate all arithmetic of schemes of finite type over the integers.

math.AG↗