English

Irrationality of certain p-adic periods for small p

Number Theory 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

Following Apery's proof of the irrationality of zeta(3), Beukers found an elegant reinterpretation of Apery's arguments using modular forms. We show how Beukers arguments can be adapted to a p-adic setting. In this context, certain functional equations arising from Eichler integrals are replaced by the notion of overconvergent p-adic modular forms, and the periods themselves arise not as coefficients of period polynomials but as constant terms of p-adic Eisenstein series. We prove that the analogue of zeta(3) is irrational for p = 2 and 3, as well as the 2-adic analogue of Catalan's constant.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0408214,
  title  = {Irrationality of certain p-adic periods for small p},
  author = {Frank Calegari},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0408214},
  year   = {2007}
}

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Preprint