Global rigid inner forms and multiplicities of discrete automorphic representations

Abstract: Given a number field we construct a canonical Galois gerbe over it and show that its cohomology provides a bridge between the refined local endoscopy introduced in arXiv:1304.3292 and classical global endoscopy. As particular applications, we express the canonical adelic transfer factor that governs the stabilization of the Arthur-Selberg trace formula as a product of normalized local transfer factors, we give an explicit construction of the pairing between an adelic L-packet and the corresponding S-group (based on the conjectural pairings in the local setting) that is the essential ingredient in the description of the discrete automorphic spectrum of a reductive group, and we give a proof of some expectations of Arthur.