On the reductive Borel-Serre compactification: \(L^p\)-cohomology of arithmetic groups (for large \(p\)) (Q2762641)

This paper is concerned with an \(L^p\)-analogue of the Zucker conjecture. The latter has been proven independently by \textit{E. Looijenga} [Compos. Math. 67, No. 1, 3--20 (1988; Zbl 0658.14010)] and by \textit{L. Saper} and \textit{M. Stern} [Ann. Math. (2) 132, No. 1, 1--69 (1990; Zbl 0722.14009)]. -- The Zucker conjecture states that for an arithmetic quotient \(M\) of a Hermitian symmetric space of non-compact type the \(L^2\)-cohomology is canonically isomorphic with the middle intersection cohomology of the Bailey-Borel Satake compactification of \(M\). NEWLINENEWLINEFor a general arithmetic quotient of a symmetric space, i.e., without Hermitian hypothesis, the present paper observes that the same statement is true for the \(L^p\)-cohomology for \(p\) finite and large enough and the ordinary cohomology on the reductive Borel-Serre compactification. The latter is a direct alteration of the usual Borel-Serre compactification. This result is then used to generalize a theorem of Mumford concerning homogeneous vector bundles and their canonical Chern forms. To achieve that, a systematic discussion of vector bundles and Chern classes on stratified spaces is given.