Compact Support Cohomology of Picard Modular Surfaces

Abstract

We compute the cohomology with compact supports of a Picard modular surface as a virtual module over the product of the appropriate Galois group and the appropriate Hecke algebra. We use the method developed by Ihara, Langlands, and Kottwitz: comparison of the Grothendieck-Lefschetz formula and the Arthur-Selberg trace formula. Our implementation of this method takes as its starting point the works of Laumon and Morel.