The Tamagawa number conjecture proposed by S. Bloch and K. Kato describes the "special values" of L-functions in terms of cohomological data. The main conjecture of Iwasawa theory describes a p-adic L-function in terms of the structure of modules for the Iwasawa algebra. We give a complete proof of both conjectures (up to the prime 2) for L-functions attached to Dirichlet characters.

We use the insight of Kato and B. Perrin-Riou that these two conjectures can be seen as incarnations of the same mathematical content. In particular, they imply each other. By a bootstrapping process using the theory of Euler systems and explicit reciprocity laws, both conjectures are reduced to the analytic class number formula. Technical problems with primes dividing the order of the character are avoided by using the correct cohomological formulation of the main conjecture.

There are infinitely many obstructions to the existence of smooth solutions of the cohomological equation Uu=f, where U is the vector field generating the horocycle flow on the unit tangent bundle SM of a Riemann surface M of finite area and f is a given function on SM. We study the Sobolev regularity of these obstructions, construct smooth solutions of the cohomological equation, and derive asymptotics for the ergodic averages of horocycle flows.

We define a new class of completions of locally symmetric varieties of type IV which interpolates between the Baily-Borel compactification and Mumford's toric compactifications. An arithmetic arrangement in a locally symmetric variety of type IV determines such a completion canonically. This completion admits a natural contraction that leaves the complement of the arrangement untouched. The resulting completion of the arrangement complement is very much like a Baily-Borel compactification: it is the Proj of an algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms. When that complement has a moduli-space interpretation, then what we get is often a compactification obtained by means of geometric invariant theory. We illustrate this with several examples: moduli spaces of polarized K3 and Enriques surfaces and the semiuniversal deformation of a triangle singularity.

We also discuss the question of when a type IV arrangement is definable by an automorphic form.