A construction of residues of Eisenstein series and related square-integrable classes in the cohomology of arithmetic groups of low \(k\)-rank (Q2335855)

The automorphic cohomology \(H^*(G,E)\) of a reductive algebraic group \(G\) (defined over an algebraic number field) with values in a rational representation \(E\) of \(G\) is the direct limit \(\varinjlim H^*(\Gamma,E)\) of the cohomology of all arithmetic congruence subgroups \(\Gamma \subseteq G(k)\). The automorphic cohomology decomposes as a direct sum of the ``cuspidal cohomology'' and the ``Eisenstein cohomology'' of \(G\). All cuspidal cohomology classes can be represented by square-integrable automorphic forms. The construction of cuspidal cohomology classes has been extensively studied. The article under review is concerned with the construction of non-trivial square-integrable cohomology classes inside the Eisenstein part \(H^*_{\text{Eis}}(G,E)\). The authors establish the existence of such cohomology classes for the rank-two groups \(\mathrm{Sp}_2\), \(\mathrm{SO}_4\), \(\mathrm{SO}_5\) and \(G_2\) over totally real number fields \(k\) subject to conditions on the highest weight of the representation \(E\). The classes are associated to residues of Eisenstein series with cuspidal support in maximal proper parabolic \(k\)-subgroups. A central ingredient in the construction are detailed results on the existence of cuspidal automorphic representations of \(\mathrm{GL}_2\) with prescribed local and global properties. The article is well written and features a helpful short survey of automorphic cohomology and properties of the relevant Eisenstein series.