Tower of coverings of quasi-projective varieties

The main goal of this article is to relate asymptotic geometric properties on a tower of coverings of a non-compact K\"ahler manifold of finite volume with reasonable geometric assumptions to its universal covering. Applicable examples include moduli spaces of hyperbolic punctured Riemann surfaces and Hermitian locally symmetric spaces of finite volume

Hermitian structures on the derived category of coherent sheaves

The main objective of the present paper is to set up the theoretical basis and the language needed to deal with the problem of direct images of hermitian vector bundles for projective non-necessarily smooth morphisms. To this end, we first define hermitian structures on the objects of the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a smooth complex variety. Secondly we extend the theory of Bott-Chern classes to these hermitian structures. Finally we introduce the category \oSm_{\ast/\CC} whose morphisms are projective morphisms with a hermitian structure on the relative tangent complex

A characterization of Hermitian varieties as codewords

It is known that the Hermitian varieties are codewords in the code defined by the points and hyperplanes of the projective spaces $PG(r,q^2)$. In finite geometry, also quasi-Hermitian varieties are defined. These are sets of points of $PG(r,q^2)$ of the same size as a non-singular Hermitian variety of $PG(r,q^2)$, having the same intersection sizes with the hyperplanes of $PG(r,q^2)$. In the planar case, this reduces to the definition of a unital. A famous result of Blokhuis, Brouwer, and Wilbrink states that every unital in the code of the points and lines of $PG(2,q^2)$ is a Hermitian curve. We prove a similar result for the quasi-Hermitian varieties in $PG(3,q^2)$, $q=p^{h}$, as well as in $PG(r,q^2)$, $q=p$ prime, or $q=p^2$, $p$ prime, and $r\geq 4$

Unitary grassmannians

We study projective homogeneous varieties under an action of a projective unitary group (of outer type). We are especially interested in the case of (unitary) grassmannians of totally isotropic subspaces of a hermitian form over a field, the main result saying that these grassmannians are 2-incompressible if the hermitian form is generic. Applications to orthogonal grassmannians are provided.Comment: 25 page

On reduction of moduli schemes of abelian varieties with definite quaternion multiplications

In this paper we make an initial study on type D moduli spaces in positive characteristic $p\neq 2$, where we allow $p$ ramified in the definite quaternion algebra. We classify the isogeny classes of $p$-divisible groups with additional structures in question. We also study the reduction of the type $D$ moduli spaces of minimal rank.Comment: 57 pages, to appear in Annales de l'Institut Fourier (Grenoble