Endoscopy for symmetric varieties

Relative trace formulas are central tools in the study of relative functoriality. In many cases of interest, basic stability problems have not previously been addressed. In this talk, I discuss a theory of endoscopy in the context of symmetric varieties with the global goal of stabilizing the associated relative trace formula. I outline how, using the dual group of the symmetric variety, one can give a good notion of endoscopic symmetric variety and conjecture a matching of relative orbital integrals in order to stabilize the relative trace formula, which can be proved in some cases. Time permitting, I will explain my proof of these conjectures in the case of unitary Friedberg–Jacquet periods.