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GH from MO
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In order to talk about the volume you need to fix the measure first. Weil observed that there is a canonical choice for the Haar measure on $G(\mathbb{A})$. For a connected $n$-dimensional semisimple algebraic group $G$ over a global field $K$, there is a nonzero $n$-dimensional rational differential $K$-form which is invariant under left-translation. The differential form induces a Haar measure on $G(K_v)$ for each completion $K_v$ of $K$, hence it determines a Haar measure on the restricted direct product $G(\mathbb{A})$ as well. The differential form is unique up to scaling by $K^\times$, hence the obtained Haar measure on $G(\mathbb{A})$ is unique. When $G$ is simply connected and semisimple, Weil conjectured that $\mathrm{vol}(G(\mathbb{A})/G(K))=1$ for this particular measure.

In the case of $G=\mathrm{SL}_2$ and $K=\mathbb{Q}$, the invariant differential form is given by $\frac{dx\wedge dy\wedge dz}{x}$, where $\begin{pmatrix} x & y \\ z & t \end{pmatrix}$ are the usual coordinates on the group. For this form one obtains the numbers mentioned by Chandan Singh Dalawat (and also by Colmez's Un utre mode est possible), hence a proof of Weil's conjecture for $G=\mathrm{SL}_2$ and $K=\mathbb{Q}$. For details I recommend Platonov-Rapinchuk: Algebraic groups and number theory (Academic Press, 1994). See especially Example 3 on pp. 166-167, the Example on pp. 222-223, and the Example on p. 262.

GH from MO
  • 105.4k
  • 8
  • 293
  • 398