p-Adic Automorphic Forms on Shimura Varieties

This book covers the following three topics in a manner accessible to graduate students who have an understanding of algebraic number theory and scheme theoretic algebraic geometry: 1. An elementary construction of Shimura varieties as moduli of abelian schemes. 2. p-adic deformation theory of automorphic forms on Shimura varieties. 3. A simple proof of irreducibility of the generalized Igusa tower over the Shimura variety. The book starts with a detailed study of elliptic and Hilbert modular forms and reaches to the forefront of research of Shimura varieties associated with general classical groups. The method of constructing p-adic analytic families and the proof of irreducibility was recently discovered by the author. The area covered in this book is now a focal point of research worldwide with many far-reaching applications that have led to solutions of longstanding problems and conjectures. Specifically, the use of p-adic elliptic and Hilbert modular forms have proven essential in recent breakthroughs in number theory (for example, the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture by A. Wiles and others). Haruzo Hida is Professor of Mathematics at Universi