Robert MacPherson and arithmetic groups (Q866458)

This nicely written survey article deals with two aspects of Robert MacPherson's work on Arithmetic Groups. The items are: the reduction theory of \(\text{Sp}_4\) and geometric compactifications of locally symmetric spaces. The former is joint work with Mark McConnell, the latter with Lizhen Ji. The reduction theory for \(\text{Sp}_4\) is obtained from the inclusion \(\text{Sp}_4\subset \text{SL}_4\) and the known reduction for the latter group. The problem is that \(\text{Sp}_4\) does not meet all cells in \(\text{SL}_4\) transversally and this phenomenon has to be thoroughly controlled. Compactifications of a locally symmetric space \(\Gamma\backslash x\) exist in abundance, each serving a different purpose. Ji and MacPherson address the question, what kind of compactification one can construct using only inner geometric objects, such as geodesics oin \(\Gamma\backslash X\), and how these compactifications fit into the canon of known compactifications.