The basic stratum of some simple Shimura varieties (Q2377009)

The article studies a certain subset \(B\) (the basic stratum) of the good reduction modulo a prime \(p\) of a Shimura variety \(X\). The main result expresses the \(l\)-adic cohomology of \(B\) (viewed as a module over the Hecke algebra attached to \(X\), together with the action of the geometric Frobenius on \(B\)) in terms of the Hecke module structure of the space of automorphic forms on the reductive group attached to \(X\). The relation is given by an explicit formula. The Shimura varieties considered in the article are moduli spaces of abelian varieties with PEL (polarization, endomorphism, level) structure. Such moduli spaces have a Newton stratification defined using the Newton polygon of the Dieudonné module of the points. The basic Newton stratum \(B\) is in some sense minimal, and the article is concerned with its cohomology. The adjective ``simple'' in the title indicates that certain technical assumptions are made by the author; these conditions guarantee (1) on the geometric side, that the moduli space is compact and that the cohomology has (practically) no endoscopy, and (2) on the automorphic side, that the only (local at \(p\)) representations involved are trivial or Steinberg. This simplifies both the calculations and the resulting trace formula. The method of proof involves the truncation of a formula of \textit{R. E. Kottwitz} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 5, No. 2, 373--444 (1992; Zbl 0796.14014)] for the number of points on Shimura varieties over finite fields, as well as techniques from Clozel's work on the fundamental lemma [\textit{L. Clozel}, Duke Math. J. 61, No. 1, 255--302 (1990; Zbl 0731.22011)]. The final section of the article discusses two applications of the main result. The first is a formula giving the number of points on \(B\) over finite fields in terms of the cohomology of a certain complex Shimura variety. The author then uses this formula to deduce an expression for the dimension of the basic stratum \(B\).