What can pushforward measures tell us about the geometry and singularities of polynomial maps?

Polynomial equations and polynomial maps are central objects in modern mathematics, and understanding their geometry and singularities is of great importance. In this talk, I will pitch the idea that polynomial maps can be studied by investigating analytic properties of regular measures pushed-forward by them (over local and finite fields). Such pushforward measures are amenable to analytic and model-theoretic tools, and the rule of thumb is that singular maps produce pushforward measures with bad analytic behavior. I will discuss some results in this direction, as well as some applications to group theory and representation theory. In particular, I plan to mention some recent results on local integrability of Harish-Chandra characters.

Based on joint projects with R. Cluckers, I. Glazer, J. Gordon and S. Sodin.