On the cohomology of some complex hyperbolic arithmetic 3-manifolds (Q2254354)

Let \(G=\mathrm{U}(3,1)\) be the unitary group of a four-dimensional hermitian space over \(\mathbb{C}\) of signature \((3,1)\). Let \(\Gamma\) be an arithmetic lattice in \(G\) that arises from hermitian forms over CM-fields (as described below). This paper shows that all irreducible unitary representations of \(G\) with non-zero cohomology appear in the discrete spectrum of \(\Gamma'\backslash G\) for some subgroup \(\Gamma'\subset\Gamma\) of finite index. This implies, via a variant of the Matsushima formula ([\textit{A. Borel} and \textit{W. Casselman}, Duke Math. J. 50, 625--647 (1983; Zbl 0528.22012); \textit{A. Borel} and \textit{N. Wallach}, Continuous cohomology, discrete subgroups, and representations of reductive groups. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (1980; Zbl 0443.22010)]), that all such representations contribute to the \(L^2\) cohomology spaces of the locally symmetric space \(\Gamma'\backslash X\) for some \(\Gamma'\) of finite index in \(\Gamma\) with respect to an appropriate coefficient system (given by a finite-dimensional representation of \(G\)). Here \(X=G\slash K\) is the symmetric space, where \(K=\mathrm{U}(3)\times \mathrm{U}(1)\) is a fixed maximal compact subgroup of \(G\). The arithmetic lattice \(\Gamma\) arises in the following way. Let \(F\) be a totally real number field and \(E\) an imaginary quadratic extension. Let \(V\) be a four-dimensional hermitian space over \(E\) such that at a fixed real place \(v_0\) of \(F\) the signature of \(V\) is \((3,1)\) and at all other real places \(V\) is positive definite. Let \(\mathbb{G}\) be the unitary group of the hermitian space \(V\). Then the Archimedean part of \(\mathbb{G}\) is given as the product \[ \mathbb{G}_\infty\cong \mathrm{U}(3,1)\times \mathrm{U}(4)^{[F:\mathbb{Q}]-1}. \] Then \(\Gamma\) is an arithmetic subgroup of \(G\) obtained as the projection of an arithmetic subgroup of \(\mathbb{G}(F)\) to the factor \(G=\mathrm{U}(3,1)\). The proof of the main result is global and constructs the automorphic representation in the discrete spectrum of \(\mathbb{G}\) using the global theta lifting from the group \(\mathbb{G}'\), defined as the unitary group of a two-dimensional skew-hermitian space over \(E\), which is assumed to be split at the fixed real place \(v_0\). The automorphic representation so obtained has a cohomological representation of \(G\) at the real place \(v_0\) at which \(\mathbb{G}\) is isomorphic to \(G\).