Intersection complexes and unramified 𝐿-factors

Abstract

Let X X be an affine spherical variety, possibly singular, and L + X \mathsf L^+X its arc space. The intersection complex of L + X \mathsf L^+X , or rather of its finite-dimensional formal models, is conjectured to be related to special values of local unramified L L -functions. Such relationships were previously established in Braverman–Finkelberg–Gaitsgory–Mirković for the affine closure of the quotient of a reductive group by the unipotent radical of a parabolic, and in Bouthier–Ngô–Sakellaridis for toric varieties and L L -monoids. In this paper, we compute this intersection complex for the large class of those spherical G G -varieties whose dual group is equal to G ˇ \check G , and the stalks of its nearby cycles on the horospherical degeneration of X X . We formulate the answer in terms of a Kashiwara crystal, which conjecturally corresponds to a finite-dimensional G ˇ \check G -representation determined by the set of B B -invariant valuations on X X . We prove the latter conjecture in many cases. Under the sheaf–function dictionary, our calculations give a formula for the Plancherel density of the IC function of L + X \mathsf L^+X as a ratio of local L L -values for a large class of spherical varieties.