Alexander Cowan | Searcharxiv

arXiv2019

Non-Random Behaviour in Sums of Modular Symbols

We give explicit expressions for the Fourier coefficients of Eisenstein series twisted by Dirichlet characters and modular symbols on $Γ_0(N)$ in the case where $N$ is prime and equal to the conductor of the Dirichlet character. We obtain these expressions by computing the spectral decomposition of automorphic functions closely related to these Eisenstein series. As an application, we then evaluate certain sums of modular symbols in a way which parallels past work of Goldfeld, O'Sullivan, Petridis, and Risager. In one case we find less cancellation in this sum than would be predicted by the common phenomenon of ``square root cancellation'', while in another case we find more cancellation.

math.NT↗

arXiv2017

Constants in Titchmarsh divisor problems for elliptic curves

Inspired by the analogy between the group of units $\mathbb{F}_p^{\times}$ of the finite field with $p$ elements and the group of points $E(\mathbb{F}_p)$ of an elliptic curve $E/\mathbb{F}_p$, E. Kowalski, A. Akbary & D. Ghioca, and T. Freiberg & P. Kurlberg investigated the asymptotic behaviour of elliptic curve sums analogous to the Titchmarsh divisor sum $\sum_{p \leq x} τ(p + a) \sim C x$. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the constants $C(E)$ emerging in the asymptotic study of these elliptic curve divisor sums. Specifically, by analyzing the division fields of an elliptic curve $E/\mathbb{Q}$, we prove upper bounds for the constants $C(E)$ and, in the generic case of a Serre curve, we prove explicit closed formulae for $C(E)$ amenable to concrete computations. Moreover, we compute the moments of the constants $C(E)$ over two-parameter families of elliptic curves $E/\mathbb{Q}$. Our methods and results complement recent studies of average constants occurring in other conjectures about reductions of elliptic curves by addressing not only the average behaviour, but also the individual behaviour of these constants, and by providing explicit tools towards the computational verifications of the expected asymptotics.

math.NT↗