Trace functions are arithmetic functions defined modulo $q$ (some prime number) obtained as Frobenius trace function of $\ell$-adic sheaves. The basic example is that of a Dirichlet character of modulus $q$ but there are many other examples of interest for instance (hyper)-Kloosterman sums. In this series of lectures we will explain how they arise in classical problems of analytic number theory and how (basi) methods from $\ell$-adic cohomology allow to extract a lot out of them. Most of these lectures are based on works of E. Fouvry, E. Kowalski, myself and W. Sawin.

Maass forms are fundamental in number theory, but they also arise naturally in mathematical physics and harmonic analysis. Exploring this connection turned out to be very fruitful, and we attempt to give a smooth but informative introduction.

The mini-course will be an introduction to the theory of general multiplicative functions and in particular to the theorem of Matomaki-Radziwill on multiplicative function in short intervals. The theorem says that, for any multiplicative function $f: \mathbb{N} \to [-1, 1]$ and any $H \to \infty$ with $X \to \infty$, the average of $f$ in almost all short intervals $[x, x+H]$ with $X \leq x \leq 2X$ is close to the average of $f$ over $[X, 2X]$. In the first lecture we will cover briefly the "pretentious theory" developed by Granville-Soundararajan and a selection of some of the key theorems: Halasz's theorem, the Lipschitz behaviour of multiplicative functions, Shiu's bound, ... We will also describe some consequences of the Matomaki-Radziwill theorem. In the second lecture we will develop sufficient machinery to prove a simple case of the latter theorem for the Liouville function in intervals of length $x^{\varepsilon}$. In the third lecture we will explain the proof of the full result. Time permitting we will end by discussing some open challenges.

For a non-principal Dirichlet character $\chi$ modulo $q$, the classical P\'olya-Vinogradov inequality asserts that $M(\chi):=\max_{x}|\sum_{n\leq x} \chi(n)|=O\left(\sqrt{q}\log q\right)$. This was improved to $\sqrt{q}\log\log q$ by Montgomery and Vaughan, assuming the Generalized Riemann hypothesis GRH. For quadratic characters, this is known to be optimal, owing to an unconditional omega result due to Paley. In this talk, we shall present recent results on higher order character sums. In the first part, we discuss even order characters, in which case we obtain optimal omega results for $M(\chi)$, extending and refining Paley's construction. The second part, joint with Sasha Mangerel, will be devoted to the more interesting case of odd order characters, where we build on previous works of Granville and Soundararajan and of Goldmakher to provide further improvements of the P\'olya-Vinogradov and Montgomery-Vaughan bounds in this case. In particular, assuming GRH, we are able to determine the order of magnitude of the maximum of $M(\chi)$, when $\chi$ has odd order $g\geq 3$ and conductor $q$, up to a power of $\log_4 q$ (where $\log_4$ is the fourth iterated logarithm).

In this talk I will discuss certain questions concerning the asymptotic behavior of the Epstein zeta function E_n(L,s) in the limit of large dimension n. In particular I will describe the value distribution of E_n(L,s) for a random lattice L of large dimension n, giving partial answers to questions raised by Sarnak and Strömbergsson in their study of the minima of E_n(L,s). Many of the key ingredients in our discussion will come from the rich interplay between the value distribution of the Epstein zeta function and classical problems in the geometry of numbers

The mini-course will be an introduction to the theory of general multiplicative functions and in particular to the theorem of Matomaki-Radziwill on multiplicative function in short intervals. The theorem says that, for any multiplicative function $f: \mathbb{N} \to [-1, 1]$ and any $H \to \infty$ with $X \to \infty$, the average of $f$ in almost all short intervals $[x, x+H]$ with $X \leq x \leq 2X$ is close to the average of $f$ over $[X, 2X]$. In the first lecture we will cover briefly the "pretentious theory" developed by Granville-Soundararajan and a selection of some of the key theorems: Halasz's theorem, the Lipschitz behaviour of multiplicative functions, Shiu's bound, ... We will also describe some consequences of the Matomaki-Radziwill theorem. In the second lecture we will develop sufficient machinery to prove a simple case of the latter theorem for the Liouville function in intervals of length $x^{\varepsilon}$. In the third lecture we will explain the proof of the full result. Time permitting we will end by discussing some open challenges

Trace functions are arithmetic functions defined modulo $q$ (some prime number) obtained as Frobenius trace function of $\ell$-adic sheaves. The basic example is that of a Dirichlet character of modulus $q$ but there are many other examples of interest for instance (hyper)-Kloosterman sums. In this series of lectures we will explain how they arise in classical problems of analytic number theory and how (basi) methods from $\ell$-adic cohomology allow to extract a lot out of them. Most of these lectures are based on works of E. Fouvry, E. Kowalski, myself and W. Sawin.