Exponential sums and total Weil representations of finite symplectic and unitary groups

Abstract: We construct explicit local systems on the affine line in characteristic $p>2$, whose geometric monodromy groups are the finite symplectic groups $Sp_{2n}(q)$ for all $n \ge 2$, and others whose geometric monodromy groups are the special unitary groups $SU_n(q)$ for all odd $n \ge 3$, and $q$ any power of $p$, in their total Weil representations. One principal merit of these local systems is that their associated trace functions are one-parameter families of exponential sums of a very simple, i.e., easy to remember, form. We also exhibit hypergeometric sheaves on $G_m$, whose geometric monodromy groups are the finite symplectic groups $Sp_{2n}(q)$ for any $n \ge 2$, and others whose geometric monodromy groups are the finite general unitary groups $GU_n(q)$ for any odd $n \geq 3$.