The Relative Trace Formula for Galois Periods

Abstract

Let $E/F$ be a quadratic extension of number fields. We introduce truncated geometric and spectral RTF distributions associated to a Galois symmetric pair $G \subset \mathrm{Res}_{E/F} G_E$, subject to the constraint that $G$ and $\mathrm{Res}_{E/F} G_E$ have the same split rank, and formulate a precise coarse RTF identity. Specializing to $SL_{2, F} \subset \mathrm{Res}_{E/F} SL_{2, E}$, we show that the truncated geometric RTF distribution converges, and is given by a linear polynomial in the truncation parameter. We then compute the fine geometric expansion explicitly, including the contribution of the regularized relative unipotent orbital integrals. We propose a geometric viewpoint which guided the computation of these unipotent terms.