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Mathematics 2008
An introduction to motivic zeta functions of motivesAbstract: It oftens occurs that Taylor coefficients of (dimensionally regularized) Feynman amplitudes $I$ with rational parameters, expanded at an integral dimension $D= D_0$, are not only periods (Belkale, Brosnan, Bogner, Weinzierl) but actually multiple zeta values (Broadhurst, Kreimer). In order to determine, at least heuristically, whether this is the case in concrete instances, the philosophy of motives - more specifically, the theory of mixed Tate motives - suggests an arithmetic approach (Kontsevich): counting points of algebraic varieties related to $I$ modulo sufficiently many primes $p$ and checking that the number of points varies polynomially in $p$. On the other hand, Kapranov has introduced a new "zeta function", the role of which is precisely to "interpolate" between zeta functions of reductions modulo different primes $p$. In this survey, we outline this circle of ideas and some of their recent developments.
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