On the Global Structure of Special Cycles on Unitary Shimura Varieties

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CJM-2013-004-1
39 pages

 

In this paper, we study the reduced loci of special cycles on local models of the Shimura variety for $\operatorname{GU}(1,n-1)$. Those special cycles are defined by Kudla and Rapoport. We explicitly compute the irreducible components of the reduced locus of a single special cycle, as well as of an arbitrary intersection of special cycles, and their intersection behaviour in terms of Bruhat-Tits theory. Furthermore, as an application of our results, we prove the connectedness of arbitrary intersections of special cycles, as conjectured by Kudla and Rapoport.