Motivic vanishing cycles as a motivic measure

Abstract: We show that the motivic vanishing cycles introduced by J. Denef and F. Loeser give rise to a motivic measure on the Grothendieck ring of varieties over the affine line. We discuss the relation of this motivic measure to the motivic measure we constructed earlier using categories of matrix factorizations.

Review text

Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(0\) and let Var\(_k\) be the category of \(k\)-varieties, i.e. separated reduced schemes of finite type over \(k\). Fix a \(k\) variety \(S\). An \(S\)-variety is a morphism \(X\to S\) of \(k\)-varieties. The Grothendieck group \(K_0(\text{Var}_S)\) is the quotient of the free abelian group on isomorphisms classes \([X\to S]\) of \(0\) of \(S\)-varieties by the subgroup generated by \(\{[X\to S]- [(X- Y)\to S]- [Y\to S]\}\), where \(Y\subset X\) is a closed reduced subscheme. For a positive number \(n\) let \(\mu_n= \text{Spec\,}k[x]/(x^n- 1)\) the group \(k\)-variety of \(n\)th roots of unity. A good \(\mu_n\)-action on a \(k\)-variety \(X\) is such that each \(\mu_n(k)\)-orbit is contained in an affine open subset of \(X\). An \(S\) variety with a good \(\mu_n\)-action is an \(S\)-variety \(p: X\to S\) together with a good \(\mu_n\) action on \(X\). By taking the trivial action of \(\mu_n\) on \(S\) one obtains the category \(\text{Var}^{\mu_n}_S\) of \(S\)-varieties with good \(\mu_n\)-action and the Grothendieck group \(K_0(\text{Var}^{\mu_n}_S)\). Let \[ {\mathcal M}^{\widehat\mu_n}_S= K_0(\text{Var}^{\mu_n}_S)[{\mathbb{L}}^{-1}_S], \] where \({\mathbb{L}}_S= {\mathbb{L}}_{S,\mu_n}= [{\mathbb{A}}^1_S\to S]\), with respect to the trivial action of \(\mu_n\) on \({\mathbb{A}}^1_S\), and \[ K_0(\text{Var}^{\widehat\mu}_S)= \text{colim}_nK_0(\text{Var}^{\mu_n}_S);\;{\mathcal M}^{\widehat\mu}_S= \text{colim}_n\,{\mathcal M}^{\mu_n}_S. \] Let \(S={\mathbb{A}}^1_k\) and let \(V: X\to{\mathbb{A}}^1_k\in \text{Var}_{{\mathbb{A}}^1_k}\). The motivic nearby fiber \(\psi_{V,a}\) and the motivic vanishing cycle \(\phi_{V,a}\) at a point \(a\in k={\mathbb{A}}^1_k(k)\) are elements of a localization M'X, over the reduced fiber jXaj of \(V\) over \(a\). The motivic nearby fiber is additive in the Grothendieck group \(K_0(\text{Var}_{{\mathbb{A}}^1_k})\). In this paper the authors show that the motivic vanishing cycles are both additive and multiplicative. Here is their main result Theorem 1. There is a morphism \[ M: (K_0(\text{Var}_{{\mathbb{A}}^1_k}),*)\to({\mathcal M}^{\widehat\mu}_k, *) \] of \(K_0(\text{Var}_k)\)-algebras which is uniquely determined by the following property: it maps the class of each proper morphism \(V: X\to{\mathbb{A}}_k^1\) from a smooth and connected \(k\)-variety \(X\) to the sum \(\sum_{a\in k}\phi_{V,a}\) of its motivic vanishing cycles. The map \(M\) is called a motivic vanishing cycle measure in the sense that is a ring morphism from some Grothendieck ring of varieties to another ring. The multiplication \(*\) on the target is a convolution product as defined by Looijenga, while the multiplication on the source is given by \[ [X@> V>>{\mathbb{A}}^1_k] * [Y@> W>>{\mathbb{A}}^1_k]= [X\times Y@> V\otimes W>>{\mathbb{A}}^1_k] \] .

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