Automorphic forms and cohomology theories on Shimura curves of small discriminant (Q990755)

This paper follows the spirit of the memoir of \textit{M. Behrens} and \textit{T. Lawson}, [``Topological automorphic forms'', Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 958, i-xxiii, 1--132 (2010; Zbl 1210.55005)]. The main results construct \(1\)-dimensional formal groups on moduli stacks of certain Shimura curves with discriminants \(6,10,14\). Using a major result of Lurie, this leads to associated \(E_\infty\) ring spectra whose homotopy rings are investigated and related to rings of automorphic forms. There are two particularly noteworthy phenomena uncovered: (a) For discriminant \(10\), an example is described with torsion in its homotopy. (b) At the prime \(3\), an \(E_\infty\) ring spectrum is constructed whose connected cover is a generalized Johnson-Wilson spectrum `\(BP\langle n\rangle\)' with \(n=2\), this giving the first example of such \(E_\infty\) ring spectra with \(n>1\). As with \(BP\), it has been an outstanding open question whether such spectra admit any \(E_\infty\) structures. Unfortunately it is not clear how the methods used here might be generalized to deal with other primes and values of \(n\).