Eisenstein cohomology for congruence subgroups of \(\text{SO}(n,2)\) (Q2430653)

Given an arithmetic congruence lattice \(\Gamma\) in a semisimple algebraic group \(\mathbf{G}(\mathbb{Q})\) it is of great interest to have a description of the cohomology groups \(H^*(\Gamma,E)\) where \(E\) is a complex representation of \(\mathbf{G}\). When \(\Gamma\) is cocompact the Hodge--de Rham theory gives a isomorphism of \(H^p(\Gamma,E)\) with the space of harmonic forms on the locally symmetric space \(\Gamma\backslash X\) with coefficients in the flat bundle induced by \(E\) (where \(X\) is the symmetric space associated to \(\mathbf{G}(\mathbb{R})\)). When \(\Gamma\) is not cocompact the situation is more complicated: in addition to the classes which are represented by (square-integrable) so-called cuspidal harmonic forms there is the image of the cohomology of the boundary of the Borel--Serre compactification of \(\Gamma\backslash X\). The Borel conjecture, proved by \textit{J. Franke} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 31, 181--279 (1998; Zbl 0938.11026)] asserts that in fact all cohomology classes have de Rham representatives which are automorphic forms. Franke established more precisely that the classes coming from the boundary can be described in terms of Eisenstein series associated to the classes of parabolic subgroups of \(\mathbf{G}(\mathbb{Q})\), generalizing the classical Eichler-Shimura isomorphism. The aim of the paper under review is to give an exhaustive description of those Eisenstein series which represent non-trivial cohomology classes in the case where \(\mathbf{G}\) is a split \(\mathbb{Q}\)-form of the real group \(\mathrm{SO}(n,2)\). The author gives very precise results for the representations induced from fundamental parabolics which contribute to the Eisenstein cohomology when the highest weight of the representation \(E\) is regular after recalling general results due to \textit{J. Franke} and \textit{J. Schwermer} [Math. Ann. 311, No. 4, 765--790 (1998; Zbl 0924.11042)] and \textit{J.-S. Li} and \textit{J. Schwermer} [Duke Math. J. 123, No. 1, 141--169 (2004; Zbl 1057.11031)].