The critical order of certain Hecke L-functions of imaginary quadratic fields

Abstract

Let $-D < -4$ denote a fundamental discriminant which is either odd or divisible by 8, so that the canonical Hecke character of $\Bbb Q(\sqrt{-D})$ exists. Let $d$ be a fundamental discriminant prime to $D$. Let $2k-1$ be an odd natural integer prime to the class number of $\Bbb Q(\sqrt{-D})$. Let $χ$ be the twist of the $(2k-1)$th power of a canonical Hecke character of $\Bbb Q(\sqrt{-D})$ by the Kronecker's symbol $n\mapsto(\frac{d}{n})$. It is proved that the order of the Hecke $L$-function $L(s,χ)$ at its central point $s=k$ is determined by its root number when $|d| \leq c(ε)D^{{1/24}-ε}$ or, when $|d| \leq c(ε)D^{\frac1{12} -ε}$ and $k\geq 2$, where $ε> 0$ and $c(ε)$ is a constant depending only on $ε$.