Families of L-functions and their Symmetry

In [90] the first-named author gave a working definition of a family of automorphic L-functions. Since then there have been a number of works [33], [107], [67] [47], [66] and especially [98] by the second and third-named authors which make it possible to give a conjectural answer for the symmetry type of a family and in particular the universality class predicted in [64] for the distribution of the zeros near s=1/2. In this note we carry this out after introducing some basic invariants associated to a family

Notes on an analogue of the Fontaine-Mazur conjecture

We estimate the proportion of function fields satisfying certain conditions which imply a function-field analogue of the Fontaine-Mazur conjecture. As a byproduct, we compute the fraction of abelian varieties (or even Jacobians) over a finite field which have a rational point of order l.Comment: 12 pages; minor revisions according to referees' comment

The distribution of class groups of function fields

Using equidistribution results of Katz and a computation in finite symplectic groups, we give an explicit asymptotic formula for the proportion of curves C over a finite field for which the l-torsion of Jac(C) is isomorphic to a given abelian l-group. In doing so, we prove a conjecture of Friedman and WashingtonComment: To appear, JPA

Bifurcation currents and equidistribution on parameter space

In this paper we review the use of techniques of positive currents for the study of parameter spaces of one-dimensional holomorphic dynamical systems (rational mappings on P^1 or subgroups of the Moebius group PSL(2,C)). The topics covered include: the construction of bifurcation currents and the characterization of their supports, the equidistribution properties of dynamically defined subvarieties on parameter space.Comment: Revised version, 46 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Frontiers in complex dynamics (Celebrating John Milnor's 80th birthday)