Compactifications of locally symmetric spaces (Q2497117)

Let \textbf{G} be a connected semisimple linear algebraic group defined over \(\mathbb Q\) and \(\subset \mathbf G(\mathbb Q)\) an arithmetic subgroup. Let \(G=\mathbf G(\mathbb R)\) be the real locus of \textbf{G} and let \(K\subset G\) be a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\). Then \(\Gamma\) is a natural homogeneous space, whose quotient on the right by a maximal compact subgroup \(K\) of \(G\) gives a locally symmetric space \(\Gamma \backslash G\slash K\). In this paper the authors study systematically compactifications of \(\Gamma\) and obtain new constructions of the Borel-Serre and the reductive Borel-Serre compactifications of \(\Gamma\backslash G \slash K\). Some similar compactifications of \(\Gamma\) have been obtained independently by \textit{K. Kato} and \textit{S. Usui} (see [Algebraic geometry 2000, Azumino. Proceedings of the symposium, Nagano, Japan, July 20--30, 2000. Tokyo: Mathematical Society of Japan. Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 36, 321-382 (2002; Zbl 1071.14014)]). A comprehensive overview of existing compactifications, is give by the authors in a recent monographs [\textit{A. Borel} and \textit{L. Ji}, Compactifications of symmetric and locally symmetric spaces. Mathematics: Theory \& Applications. (Basel): Birkhäuser. (2006; Zbl 1100.22001)].