English

Class numbers and invariant characters of $\mathfrak{sl}_2(\mathbb{F}_p)$

Representation Theory 2025-08-26 v1 Number Theory

Abstract

Let pp be a prime and let S2(Γ(p))S_2(\Gamma(p)) be the space of weight 22 cusp forms for the principal congruence subgroup Γ(p)\Gamma(p). Then SL2(Fp)\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F}_p) acts on S2(Γ(p))S_2(\Gamma(p)) in a natural way. Around 1928, Hecke proved that if p>3p>3 and p3mod4p\equiv 3\mod 4, then the class number of Q(p)\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-p}) is equal to the difference between the multiplicities of two particular irreducible representations of SL2(Fp)\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F}_p) in S2(Γ(p))S_2(\Gamma(p)). In this paper we prove a Lie algebra analogue of this result. As an application we extend Hecke's result to SL2(Z/pr)\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}/p^r) (acting on S2(Γ(pr))S_2(\Gamma(p^r))) for any r2r\geq 2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.17214,
  title  = {Class numbers and invariant characters of $\mathfrak{sl}_2(\mathbb{F}_p)$},
  author = {Zhe Chen and Yongqi Feng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.17214},
  year   = {2025}
}

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11 pages