In this paper we present rigorously and as succintly as possible the theory of elliptic quasi-modular forms by means of moduli spaces and the Gauss-Manin connection, and deal with one of the main historical appearances of quasi-modular forms, which was the seminal case of mirror symmetry treated by Dijkgraaf.
This is a report on a joint project in experimental mathematics with Jonas Bergström and Carel Faber where we obtain information about modular forms by counting curves over finite fields.
We construct a compactification of the moduli space of Drinfeld modules of rank $r$ and level $N$ as a moduli space of $A$-reciprocal maps. This is closely related to the Satake compactification, but not exactly the same. The construction involves some technical assumptions on $N$ that are satisfied for a cofinal set of ideals $N$. In the special case $A={\mathbb F}_q[t]$ and $N=(t^n)$ we obtain a presentation for the graded ideal of Drinfeld cusp forms of level $N$ and all weights and can deduce a dimension formula for the space of cusp forms of any weight. We expect the same results in gener…
We prove that the graded ring of modular forms of weight divisible by 3 is naturally isomorphic to a certain log canonical ring of the corresponding elliptic modular surface.
Zagier proved that the generating series for the traces of singular moduli is a \textit{weakly holomorphic} modular form of weight 3/2 on $Γ_0(4)$. Bruinier and Funke extended the results of Zagier to modular curves of arbitrary genus. Zagier also showed that the twisted traces of singular moduli are generated by a weakly holomorphic modular form of weight 3/2. In this paper, we study the extension of Zagier's result for the twisted traces of singular moduli to congruence subgroups $Γ_0(N)$. As an application, we study congruences for the twisted traces of singular moduli of weakly holomorphic…
In this paper, we study central values of the family of quadratic twists of modular $L$-functions of moduli $8p$, with $p$ ranging over odd primes. Assuming the truth of the generalized Riemann hypothesis, we establish a positive proportion non-vanishing result for the corresponding $L$-values.
We prove a genus formula for modular curves of $D$-elliptic sheaves. We use this formula to show that the reductions of modular curves of $D$-elliptic sheaves attain the Drinfeld-Vladut bound as the degree of the discriminant of $D$ tends to infinity.
We define the notion of a $G$-structure for elliptic curves, where $G$ is a finite 2-generated group. When $G$ is abelian, a $G$-structure is the same as a classical congruence level structure. There is a natural action of $\text{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z})$ on these level structures. If $Γ$ is a stabilizer of this action, then the quotient of the upper half plane by $Γ$ parametrizes isomorphism classes of elliptic curves equipped with $G$-structures. When $G$ is "sufficiently" nonabelian, the stabilizers $Γ$ are noncongruence. As a result we realize noncongruence modular curves as moduli spaces of elli…
For any finite abelian group G, we study the moduli space of abelian $G$-covers of elliptic curves, in particular identifying the irreducible components of the moduli space. We prove that, in the totally ramified case, the moduli space has trivial rational Picard group, and it is birational to the moduli space M_{1,n}, where n is the number of branch points. In the particular case of moduli of bielliptic curves, we also prove that the boundary divisors are a basis of the rational Picard group of the admissible covers compactification of the moduli space. Our methods are entirely algebro-geomet…
We show how our p-adic method to compute Galois representations occurring in the torsion of Jacobians of algebraic curves can be adapted to modular curves. The main ingredient is the use of "moduli-friendly" Eisenstein series introduced by Makdisi, which allow us to evaluate modular forms at p-adic of modular curves points and dispenses us of the need for equations of modular curves and for q-expansion computations. The resulting algorithm compares very favourably to the complex-analytic method.
Let q be a prime power and E a non-isotrivial elliptic curve over Fq(T) given by a Weierstrass model. We survey the construction, with an explicit point of view, of the modular parametrization of E by the associated Drinfeld modular curve. We then prove a formula that allows us to evaluate this modular parametrization at cusps and we produce an explicit method to compute these values. Finally we illustrate our results with several examples in characteristic 2 and 3.
Zagier proved that the traces of singular values of the classical j-invariant are the Fourier coefficients of a weight 3/2 modular form and Duke provided a new proof of the result by establishing an exact formula for the traces using Niebur's work on a certain class of non-holomorphic modular forms. In this short note, by utilizing Niebur's work again, we generalize Duke's result to exact formulas for traces of singular moduli of higher level modular functions.
We present explicit equations of semi-stable elliptic surfaces (i.e., having only type $I_n$ singular fibers) which are associated to the torsion-free genus zero congruence subgroups of the modular group as classified by A. Sebbar.
We prove an abstract modularity result for classes of Heegner divisors in the generalized Jacobian of a modular curve associated to a cuspidal modulus. Extending the Gross-Kohnen-Zagier theorem, we prove that the generating series of these classes is a weakly holomorphic modular form of weight 3/2. Moreover, we show that any harmonic Maass forms of weight 0 defines a functional on the generalized Jacobian. Combining these results, we obtain a unifying framework and new proofs for the Gross-Kohnen-Zagier theorem and Zagier's modularity of traces of singular moduli, together with new geometric i…
These informal notes are an expanded version of lectures on the moduli space of elliptic curves given at Zhejiang University in July, 2008. Their goal is to introduce and motivate basic concepts and constructions (such as orbifolds and stacks) important in the study of moduli spaces of curves and abelian varieties through the example of elliptic curves. The reason for working with elliptic curves is that most constructions are elementary and explicit in this case. All four approaches to moduli spaces of curves -- complex analytic, topological, algebro-geometric, and number theoretic -- are con…
In the study of the arithmetic structure of elliptic modular groups which are the fundamental groups of compactified modular curves, these truncated group algebras and their direct sums are considered to construct elliptic modular motives. Our main result is a new theory of Hecke operators on these motives which gives a congruence relation to the Galois action, and their motivic decomposition. Using our Hecke theory, we show that elliptic modular motives are the direct sums of pure motives over certain number fields. This fact implies a kind of algebraicity on iterated Shimura integrals, i.e.,…
We give equations for 13 genus-2 curves over $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$, with models over $\mathbb{Q}$, whose unpolarized Jacobians are isomorphic to the square of an elliptic curve with complex multiplication by a maximal order. If the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis is true, there are no further examples of such curves. More generally, we prove under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis that there exist exactly 46 genus-2 curves over $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ with field of moduli $\mathbb{Q}$ whose Jacobians are isomorphic to the square of an elliptic curve with complex multiplication by a maximal o…
This paper presents the theory of holomorphic vector valued modular forms from a geometric perspective. More precisely, we define certain holomorphic vector bundles on the modular orbifold of generalized elliptic curves whose sections are vector valued modular forms. This perspective simplifies the theory, and it clarifies the role that exponents of representations of SL_2(Z) play in the holomorphic theory of vector valued modular forms. Further, it allows one to use standard techniques in algebraic geometry to deduce free-module theorems and dimension formulae (deduced previously by other aut…
We compute the Brauer group of the moduli stack of elliptic curves over the integers, localizations of the integers, finite fields of odd characteristic, and algebraically closed fields of characteristic not $2$. The methods involved include the use of the parameter space of Legendre curves and the moduli stack of curves with full (naive) level $2$ structure, the study of the descent spectral sequence in étale cohomology and the Leray spectral sequence in fppf cohomology, the computation of the group cohomology of $S_3$ in a certain integral representation, the classification of cubic Galois e…
Modular curves like X_0(N) and X_1(N) appear very frequently in arithmetic geometry. While their complex points are obtained as a quotient of the upper half plane by some subgroups of SL_2(Z), they allow for a more arithmetic description as a solution to a moduli problem. This description turns out to be very useful in many applications. We wish to give such a moduli description for two modular curves: those associated to non-split Cartan subgroups and their normaliser in GL_2(F_p). These modular curves appear for instance in Serre's problem of classifying all possible Galois structures of p-t…
We compare the asymptotic grows of the number of rational points on modular varieties of D-elliptic sheaves over finite fields to the grows of their Betti numbers as the degree of the level tends to infinity. This is a generalization to higher dimensions of a well-known result for modular curves. As a consequence of the main result, we also produce a new asymptotically optimal sequence of curves.
After Zagier proved that the traces of singular moduli $j(z)$ are Fourier coefficients of a weakly holomorphic modular form, various properties of the traces of the singular values of modular functions mostly on the full modular group $PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})$ have been investigated such as their exact formulas, limiting distribution, duality, and congruences. The purpose of this paper is to generalize these arithmetic properties of traces of singular values of a weakly holomorphic modular function on the full modular group to those on a congruence subgroup $Γ_0(N)$.
We determine explicit birational models over Q for the modular surfaces parametrising pairs of N-congruent elliptic curves in all cases where this surface is an elliptic surface. In each case we also determine the rank of the Mordell-Weil lattice and the geometric Picard number.
Let $p\ge 5$ be a prime. We show that the space of weight one Eisenstein series defines an embedding into $\PP^{(p-3)/2}$ of the modular curve $X_1(p)$ for the congruence group $Γ_1(p)$ that is scheme-theoretically cut out by explicit quadratic equations.
We investigate modularity of elliptic curves over a general totally real number field, establishing a finiteness result for the set non-modular $j$-invariants. By analyzing quadratic points on some modular curves, we show that all elliptic curves over certain real quadratic fields are modular.
We determine the $\ell$-adic étale cohomology and the eigenvalues of the geometric Frobenius for the moduli stack $\mathcal{L}_{1,12n} := \mathrm{Hom}_{n}(\mathbb{P}^1, \overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1})$ of stable elliptic fibrations over $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ with $12n$ nodal singular fibers and a marked Weierstrass section over $\overline{\mathbb{F}}_q$ with $\mathrm{char}(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_q) \neq 2,3$.
These are the lecture notes from my portion of a mini-course for the summer school "Building Bridges 3" that was held in Sarajevo during July 2016. My lectures covered the Katz definition of modular forms, a family of forms defined from this perspective and their relation to Eisenstein series, and methods of finding explicit models of modular curves. The treatment is purely expository, and the results are mostly standard, although a few points of view may not be as widely known as they deserve to be.
For every normalized newform f in S_2(Gamma_1(N)) with complex multiplication, we study the modular parametrizations of elliptic curves C from the abelian variety A_f. We apply the results obtained when C is Gross's elliptic curve A(p).
A result of Habegger shows that there are only finitely many singular moduli such that $j$ or $j-α$ is an algebraic unit. The result uses Duke's Equidistribution Theorem and is thus not effective. For a fixed $j$-invariant $α\in \bar{\mathbb{Q}}$ of an elliptic curve without complex multiplication, we prove that there are only finitely many singular moduli $j$ such that $j-α$ is an algebraic unit. The difference to the work of Habegger is that we give explicit bounds.
In this paper, we study modularity of several functions which naturally arose in a recent paper of Lau and Zhou on open Gromov-Witten potentials of elliptic orbifolds. They derived a number of examples of indefinite theta functions, and we provide modular completions for several such functions which involve more complicated objects than ordinary modular forms. In particular, we give new closed formulas for special indefinite theta functions of type $(1,2)$ in terms of products of mock modular forms. This formula is also of independent interest.
We prove that all elliptic curves defined over totally real cubic fields are modular. This builds on previous work of Freitas, Le Hung and Siksek, who proved modularity of elliptic curves over real quadratic fields, as well as recent breakthroughs due to Thorne and to Kalyanswamy.
The aim of this paper is to show lifts from pairs of two elliptic modular forms to Siegel modular forms of half-integral weight of even degree under the assumption that the constructed Siegel modular form is not identically zero. The key of the proof is to introduce a certain generalization of the Maass relation for Siegel modular forms of half-integral weight of general degree.
We define "values" of the elliptic modular j-function at real quadratic irrationalities by using Hecke's hyperbolic Fourier expansions, and present some observations based on numerical experiments.
Kaneko and Sakai recently observed that certain elliptic curves whose associated newforms (by the modularity theorem) are given by the eta-quotients can be characterized by a particular differential equation involving modular forms and Ramanujan-Serre differential operator. In this paper, we study certain properties of modular parametrizations associated to the elliptic curves over Q, and as a consequence we generalize and explain some of their findings.
We prove that every elliptic curve defined over a totally real number field of degree 4 not containing $\sqrt{5}$ is modular. To this end, we study the quartic points on four modular curves.
We present a detailed analysis of how to implement the computation of modular symbols for a given elliptic curve by using numerical approximations. This method turns out to be more efficient than current implementation as the conductor of the curve increases.
We study the existence of rational points on modular curves of $\cal{D}$-elliptic sheaves over local fields and the structure of special fibres of these curves. We discuss some applications which include finding presentations for arithmetic groups arising from quaternion algebras, finding the equations of modular curves of $\cal{D}$-elliptic sheaves, and constructing curves violating the Hasse principle.
For a fixed $j$-invariant $j_0$ of an elliptic curve without complex multiplication we bound the number of $j$-invariants $j$ that are algebraic units and such that elliptic curves corresponding to $j$ and $j_0$ are isogenous. Our bounds are effective. We also modify the problem slightly by fixing a singular modulus $α$ and looking at all $j$ such that $j-α$ is an algebraic unit and such that elliptic curves corresponding to $j$ and $j_0$ are isogenous. The number of such $j$ can again be bounded effectively.
Let K be a number field and E/K a modular elliptic curve, with modular parametrization $X_0(N) \to E$ defined over K. The purpose of this note is to study the images in E of classes of isogenous points in X_0(N).
We study the moduli surface for pairs of elliptic curves together with an isomorphism between their N-torsion groups. The Weil pairing gives a "determinant" map from this moduli surface to (Z/NZ)*; its fibers are the components of the surface. We define spaces of modular forms on these components and Hecke correspondences between them, and study how those spaces of modular forms behave as modules for the Hecke algebra. We discover that the component with determinant -1 is somehow the "dominant" one; we characterize the difference between its spaces of modular forms and the spaces of modular fo…
Let F be the cubic field of discriminant -23 and let O be its ring of integers. By explicitly computing cohomology of congruence subgroups of GL(2,O), we computationally investigate modularity of elliptic curves over F.
We obtain Poisson equations satisfied by elliptic modular graph functions with four links. Analysis of these equations leads to a non--trivial algebraic relation between the various graphs.
This paper introduces two forms of modular inverses and proves their reciprocity formulas respectively. These formulas are then applied to formulate new and generalized algorithm for computing these modular inverses. The same algorithm is also shown to be applicable for the Chinese Remainder problem, i.e., simultaneous linear congruence equations, for co-prime moduli as well as non-co-prime moduli.
We explicitly compute the ellitpic points and isotropy groups for the action of the Picard modular group over the Gaussian integers on 2-dimensional complex hyperbolic space.
In this article we introduce Hecke operators on the differential algebra of geometric quasi-modular forms. As an application for each natural number $d$ we construct a vector field in six dimensions which determines uniquely the polynomial relations between the Eisenstein series of weight 2,4 and 6 and their transformation under multiplication of the argument by $d$, and in particular, it determines uniquely the modular curve of degree $d$ isogenies between elliptic curves.
We show that the generating series of traces of reciprocal singular moduli is a mixed mock modular form of weight $3/2$ whose shadow is given by a linear combination of products of unary and binary theta functions. To prove these results, we extend the Kudla-Millson theta lift of Bruinier and Funke to meromorphic modular functions.
In this paper, we extend previous results to prove that generalized modular forms with rational Fourier expansions whose divisors are supported only at the cusps and certain other points in the upper half plane are actually classical modular forms. We discuss possible limitations to this extension and pose questions about possible zeroes for modular forms of prime level.
We study several aspects of nonvanishing Fourier coefficients of elliptic modular forms $\bmod \ell$, partially answering a question of Bellaïche-Soundararajan concerning the asymptotic formula for the count of the number of Fourier coefficients upto $x$ which do not vanish $\bmod \ell$. We also propose a precise conjecture as a possible answer to this question. Further, we prove several results related to the nonvanishing of arithmetically interesting (e.g., primitive or fundamental) Fourier coefficients $\bmod \ell $ of a Siegel modular form with integral algebraic Fourier coefficients provi…
