An arithmetic site at the complex place (Q2307451)

In [C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 352, No. 12, 971--975 (2014; Zbl 1315.11054)] \textit{A. Connes} and \textit{C. Consani} defined a topos that they called the arithmetic site. This topos is associated to \(\mathbb{Z}\) and it has been shown to encode information about the arithmetic of the rational integers. The present author proposes a generalization of this topos to other rings of integers of number fields. The main difficulty to overcome is the fact that the construction of Connes and Consani crucially uses the property of \(\mathbb{Z}\) being an ordered ring. Because of this difficulty, the paper of Sagnier considers only some specific number fields. The paper starts by defining for every ring of integers \(\mathcal{O}_K \subset K\) of a number field \(K\) with class number \(1\) a pre-sheaf topos \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) that is the analog the arithmetic site. The hypothesis on \(K\) having class number \(1\) is necessary for the methods of the paper to work. Then, it is shown that the isomorphism classes of points of the topos \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) have an adelic interpretation similar to the one of the arithmetic site of \(\mathbb{Z}\). The next step is to define the structural sheaf of the topos \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\). This construction is much more subtle than the definition of \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) and it is performed only for the case when \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) is the ring of Gaussian integers and when \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) is the ring of Eisenstein integers. In these cases, \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) is equipped with a structural sheaf given by a ``tropical'' semi-ring \((\mathcal{O}_K)_{\mathrm{conv}}\) obtained using Minkowski's geometry of numbers. The semi-ring so obtained is analogous to the tropical semi-ring \(\mathbb{Z}^{\max}\) used by Connes and Consani and it is proved \((\mathcal{O}_K)_{\mathrm{conv}} \subset \mathbb{C}_K^{\max}\), in analogy with the inclusion \(\mathbb{Z}^{\max} \subset \mathbb{R}^{\max}\). These similarities extend beyond formalities as it is proved that the semi-ring \(\mathbb{C}_K^{\max}\) is equipped with a family of automorphisms that plays the rôle of the Frobenius ``flow'' of automorphisms of \(\mathbb{R}^{\max}\). The main application of the new arithmetic sites introduced in the paper is the proof of a connection between the adelic interpretations of points of the topos \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) and the spectral interpretation of the points of Hecke \(L\)-functions given by Connes. For the arithmetic site of \(\mathbb{Z}\) Connes and Consani have shown that the points are related to the spectral interpretation of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function, whereas the points of the topoi \(\widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\) are shown to be related to certain Hecke \(L\)-functions over \(K\), not just the Dedekind zeta function of \(K\). This phenomenon seems to be a manifestation of the geometrical properties of the tropical semi-ring \(\mathbb{C}_K^{\max}\). The paper ends studying a geometric morphism of topoi \(\mathrm{Spec}(\mathcal{O}_K) \to \widehat{\mathcal{O}_K}\).