On Thakur’s basis conjecture for multiple zeta values in positive characteristic

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we study multiple zeta values (abbreviated as MZV’s) over function fields in positive characteristic. Our main result is to prove Thakur’s basis conjecture, which plays the analogue of Hoffman’s basis conjecture for real MZV’s. As a consequence, we derive Todd’s dimension conjecture, which is the analogue of Zagier’s dimension conjecture for classical real MZV’s.