The universal Euler characteristic for varieties of characteristic zero

Abstract

Using the weak factorization theorem, we give a simple presentation for the value group of the universal Euler characteristic with compact support for varieties of characteristic zero and describe the value group of the universal Euler characteristic of pairs. This gives a new proof for the existence of natural Euler characteristics with values in the Grothendieck group of Chow motives. A generalization of the presentation to the relative setting allows us to define duality and the six operations. © Foundation Compositio Mathematica 2004.