Spectral analysis for \H

Erez Lapid
1 Introduction to automorphic forms (February 17, 2009)
What is an automorphic form? Automorphic forms are generalization of periodic func-
tions, i.e.,
f : R C, f(x + 1) = f(x).
Two important things:
(i) We have an explicit basis of periodic functions, i.e., e(mz), m Z, where e(z) = e
2iz
.
(ii) We can expand any periodic function explicitly in terms of e(mz), i.e.,
f(z) =

a
f
(m)e(mz), a
f
(m) =
_
f, e(mz)
_
.
Poisson Summation Formula (PSF ) For any Schwarz function f on R,

nZ
f(n) =

nZ

f(n)
where

f(y) =
_
f(x)e(xy)dx.
A typical application of PSF : Suppose f L
1
(R) and f
(n)
L
1
(R) (e.g. f(x) =
1
1+x
2
), then
for any k > 0 we have

1
X

nZ
f
_
n
X
_

_
R
f(x)dx

= O
k
(X
k
).
Note that
_
R
f(x)dx =

f(0).
Suppose that is a discrete group, which acts discontinuously on a locally compact space
X, i.e. X X is a proper map. C X is compact, the set
{ : C C = }
is nite. An automorphic function on X is a invariant function on X, i.e., f : X C,
f(x) = f(x), , x X.
A particular case : X is a symmetric space (certain Riemannian manifold). 3 kinds according
to sectional curvature.
(I) Euclidian space R
n
(at).
(II) S
n
, sphere (compact type).
(III) G/K, G is a semi-simple algebraic lie group, K is a maximal compact subgroup of
G (K is unique up to conjugation).
EX. (I) G = SL
n
(R), K = SO
n
(R), then G/K is a space of positive denite nforms.
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(II) G = SL
n
(C), K = SU(n), then G/K is a space of positive denite Hermitian
nforms.
(III) G = SO(n, 1), K = SO(n), then G/K is a hyperbolic n-space (H
n
).
Let X = G/K. Mostly, we work with SL
2
(R)/SO(2) = H
2
, which is a two dimensional
hyperbolic space, i.e., the upper half plane {z C : z = x + iy, y > 0}. Let G = SL
2
(R)
act on X by Mobius transformations
_
a b
c d
_
z =
az + b
cz + d
.
Let K = SO(2) = Stab(i) and G be discrete. G acts on X acts on X. acts
discontinuously on X. Mostly, will be of nite co-volume in G (X = G/K is a Riemannian
metric, T

(
G
K
) = g/k = Lie(G)/Lie(K). In fact, let [, ] be the Killing form on Lie(G). k is a
maximal subspace on which [, ] is negative denite. Then the Killing form on the orthogonal
complement of Lie(K) in Lie(G) is positive denite. It gives rise to a Riemannian metric on
X). That is vol(\X) < . Volume form on X volume form on \X.
Many important cases of such .
Def. A lattice of G is a discrete subgroup of G of nite co-volume, i.e.,
vol(\X) < .
It is called uniform if \X is compact \G is compact.
EX. (1) Let G = SL
n
(R), = SL
n
(Z). One can show that is a lattice (part of reduction
theory, Hermite Minkowski, Borel, Harish-Chandra).
(2) For G = SL
2
(R), X = H . There are many examples of uniform lattices. Any compact
Riemann Surface with genus > 1 can be uniformized by H = M = \H, where is
a uniform lattice of SL
2
(R). That is, there are continuous families of uniform lattices of
SL
2
(R). Similarly, there are continuous families of non-uniform lattices.
For other G, the situation is very dierent. If G has rank > 1 (SL
m
, m 3), more or
less, all lattices are obtained as G(Z) (Margulis)( i.e. they are arithmetic. The notion of
arithmeticity is somewhat subtle. It will not be dened here ).
Back to SL
2
(R) case, we have many lattices s. Some are more special than others.
Denote
Comm() = {g G : gg
1
is of nite index in }
which is a subgroup of G. Obviously, Comm().
Theorem (Margulis) [Comm() : ] = is arithmetic.
Example. = SL
2
(Z) or a nite index subgroup of SL
2
(Z). is easy for , because
Comm() = SL
2
(Q). This property of is very important because it gives rise to additional
symmetries (Hecke operators). We consider functions on \H. This does not include modular
forms, because of the weight factor.
We can refer to references [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].
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Basic goal: spectral decomposition (mostly for G = SL
2
(R))
First step : study G/K (Harish-Chandra, Helgason, Gangolli).
Weyl law : Let (M, g) be a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension d. -Laplace
operator (2
nd
order dierential operator) which is an unbounded non-positive self-adjoint on
L
2
(M, d) with pure point spectrum.

j
+
2
j

j
= 0
where {
j
} is an orthonormal basis in L
2
(M) and 0 =
0
<
1
. We have
{j :
j
T} = C
d
vol(M)T
d
+ O(T
d1
),
where C
d
depends only on d.
EX. Let T
2
= R
2
/Z
2
and =

2
x
2
+

2
y
2
. Then
n,m
= e(nx)e(my) is an eigenfunction and
the eigenvalue
n,m
= n
2
+ m
2
. By Weyl law we get

_
(n, m) : n
2
+ m
2
R
2
_
= R
2
+ O(R).
Simplest bound for Gauss circle problem.
The Weyl law holds for \H, where is a congruence subgroup, e.g. =
N
, where

N
= ker(SL
2
(Z) SL
2
(Z/NZ)).
Remark. Not clear how to write down a single non-constant function in L
2
_
SL
2
(Z)\H
_
,
which is an eigenfunction of .
To show that Selberg invented the trace formula which is a broad generalization of the
Poisson Summation Formula.
Other applications of spectral theoretical methods.
Lattice point counting problem. Let (X, d) be a metric space and act discontinuously
on it. Given x
0
X, we have { : d(x
0
, x
0
) < R} is nite.
What is the asymptotic behavior? (e.g. = Z
2
, X = R
2
, x
0
= 0, Gauss circle problem.)
For H, let ds
2
=
dx
2
+dy
2
y
2
and it is Ginvariant, where G = SL
2
(R). Let d =
dxdy
y
2
stand
for the measure, = y
2
_

2
x
2
+

2
y
2
_
and = SL
2
(Z). Then we have

_
(a, b, c, d) : ad bc = 1, a
2
+ b
2
+ c
2
+ d
2
R
_
= 3R + O(R
2
3
).
This is more dicult since in the hyperbolic geometry, the length of the boundary of a circle
is proportional to the area !
An analogue of the prime number theorem for closed geodesics.
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Theorem (Selberg). For = SL
2
(Z), we have

r closed
geodesic in \H
l(r)log X
l(r) = X + O(X
3
4
).
(closely related to fundamental units of real quadratic elds.)
M. Kac : Can you hear the shape of a drum? Let M be a Riemannian surface, be
Laplace operator and 0 =
0
<
1
. Do these eigenvalues determine M ?
No, we have
1
\H =
2
\H with same
j
(Jacquet-Langlands correspondence, special case
of Langlands functoriality)
Smallest eigenvalue problem. Let 0 =
0
<
1
be eigenvalues, what is
1
?
Selbergs
1
4
conjecture : If is congruence subgroup ( =
N
), then
1

1
4
.
Selberg showed
1

3
16
. Best known bound is
1

1
4
(
7
64
)
2
. To prove these results,
one needs to consider higher rank symmetric spaces (Kim-Sarnak, Shahidi, need to use E
8
).
The Selbergs
1
4
conjecture would follow from general Langlands functoriality.
References
[1] Daniel Bump, Automorphic Forms and Representations.
[2] A. Borel, Automorphic forms on SL
2
(R). Cambridge Tracts in Math. Vol. 130, Cambridge Univ. Press,
Cambridge 1997.
[3] S. Gelbert, Automorphic Forms on Adele Groups
[4] H. Iwaniec, Introduction to the spectral theory of automorphic forms. Revista Matemaca Iberoameri-
cana, Madrid, 1995.
[5] P. Sarnak, Spectra of hyperbolic surface, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 40 (2003), 441-478.
[6] Audrey Terras, Harmonic analysis on symmetric spaces and applications I, II.
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