A famous theorem of Shokurov states that a general anticanonical divisor of a smooth Fano threefold is a smooth K3 surface. This is quite surprising since there are several examples where the base locus of the anticanonical system has codimension two. In this paper, we show that for four-dimensional Fano manifolds the behaviour is completely opposite: if the base locus is a normal surface, and hence has codimension two, all the anticanonical divisors are singular.

We prove that the class of separably algebraically closed valued fields equipped with a distinguished Frobenius endomorphism $x \mapsto x^q$ is decidable, uniformly in q. The result is a simultaneous generalization of the work of Chatzidakis and Hrushovski (in the case of the trivial valuation) and the work of the first author and Hrushovski (in the case where the fields are algebraically closed).

The logical setting for the proof is a model completeness result for valued fields equipped with an endomorphism $\sigma $ which is locally infinitely contracting and fails to be onto. Namely, we prove the existence of a model complete theory $\widetilde {\mathrm {VFE}}$ amalgamating the theories $\mathrm {SCFE}$ and $\widetilde {\mathrm {VFA}}$ introduced in [5] and [11], respectively. In characteristic zero, we also prove that $\widetilde {\mathrm {VFE}}$ is NTP$_2$ and classify the stationary types: they are precisely those orthogonal to the fixed field and the value group.

We obtain a new interpretation of the cohomological Hall algebra $\mathcal {H}_Q$ of a symmetric quiver Q in the context of the theory of vertex algebras. Namely, we show that the graded dual of $\mathcal {H}_Q$ is naturally identified with the underlying vector space of the principal free vertex algebra associated to the Euler form of Q. Properties of that vertex algebra are shown to account for the key results about $\mathcal {H}_Q$. In particular, it has a natural structure of a vertex bialgebra, leading to a new interpretation of the product of $\mathcal {H}_Q$. Moreover, it is isomorphic to the universal enveloping vertex algebra of a certain vertex Lie algebra, which leads to a new interpretation of Donaldson–Thomas invariants of Q (and, in particular, re-proves their positivity). Finally, it is possible to use that vertex algebra to give a new interpretation of CoHA modules made of cohomologies of non-commutative Hilbert schemes.

We provide a complete classification of Teichmüller curves occurring in hyperelliptic components of the meromorphic strata of differentials. Using a non-existence criterion based on how Teichmüller curves intersect the boundary of the moduli space we derive a contradiction to the algebraicity of any candidate outside of Hurwitz covers of strata with projective dimension one, and Hurwitz covers of zero residue loci in strata with projective dimension two.

Several structural results about permutation groups of finite rank definable in differentially closed fields of characteristic zero (and other similar theories) are obtained. In particular, it is shown that every finite rank definably primitive permutation group is definably isomorphic to an algebraic permutation group living in the constants. Applications include the verification, in differentially closed fields, of the finite Morley rank permutation group conjectures of Borovik-Deloro and Borovik-Cherlin. Applying the results to binding groups for internality to the constants, it is deduced that if complete types p and q are of rank m and n, respectively, and are nonorthogonal, then the $(m+3)$rd Morley power of p is not weakly orthogonal to the $(n+3)$rd Morley power of q. An application to transcendence of generic solutions of pairs of algebraic differential equations is given.

A p-arithmetic subgroup of $\mathbf {SL}_2(\mathbb {Q})$ like the Ihara group $\Gamma := \mathbf {SL}_2(\mathbb {Z}[1/p])$ acts by Möbius transformations on the Poincaré upper half plane $\mathcal H$ and on Drinfeld’s p-adic upper half plane ${\mathcal H_p := \mathbb {P}_1(\mathbb {C}_p)-\mathbb {P}_1(\mathbb {Q}_p)}$. The diagonal action of $\Gamma $ on the product is discrete, and the quotient $\Gamma \backslash (\mathcal H_p\times \mathcal H)$ can be envisaged as a ‘mock Hilbert modular surface’. According to a striking prediction of Neková$\check {\text {r}}$ and Scholl, the CM points on genuine Hilbert modular surfaces should give rise to ‘plectic Heegner points’ that encode nontrivial regulators attached, notably, to elliptic curves of rank two over real quadratic fields. This article develops the analogy between Hilbert modular surfaces and their mock counterparts, with the aim of transposing the plectic philosophy to the mock Hilbert setting, where the analogous plectic invariants are expected to lie in the alternating square of the Mordell–Weil group of certain elliptic curves of rank two over $\mathbb {Q}$.

The global analogue of a Henselian local ring is a Henselian pair – a ring R and an ideal I which satisfy a condition resembling Hensel’s lemma regarding lifting coprime factorizations of monic polynomials over $R/I$ to factorizations over R. The geometric counterpart is the notion of a Henselian scheme, which can serve as a substitute for formal schemes in applications such as deformation theory.

In this paper, we prove a GAGA-style cohomology comparison result for Henselian schemes in positive characteristic, making use of a ‘Henselian étale’ topology defined in previous work in order to leverage exactness of finite pushforward for abelian sheaves in the étale topology of schemes. We will also discuss algebraizability of coherent sheaves on the Henselization of a proper scheme, proving (without a positive characteristic restriction) algebraizability for coherent subsheaves. We can then deduce a Henselian version of Chow’s theorem on algebraization and the algebraizability of maps between Henselizations of proper schemes.

Mukai’s program in [16] seeks to recover a K3 surface X from any curve C on it by exhibiting it as a Fourier–Mukai partner to a Brill–Noether locus of vector bundles on the curve. In the case X has Picard number one and the curve $C\in |H|$ is primitive, this was confirmed by Feyzbakhsh in [11, 13] for $g\geq 11$ and $g\neq 12$. More recently, Feyzbakhsh has shown in [12] that certain moduli spaces of stable bundles on X are isomorphic to the Brill–Noether locus of curves in $|H|$ if g is sufficiently large. In this paper, we work with irreducible curves in a nonprimitive ample linear system $|mH|$ and prove that Mukai’s program is valid for any irreducible curve when $g\neq 2$, $mg\geq 11$ and $mg\neq 12$. Furthermore, we introduce the destabilising regions to improve Feyzbakhsh’s analysis in [12]. We show that there are hyper-Kähler varieties as Brill–Noether loci of curves in every dimension.