Dedekind sums in function fields (Q714970): Difference between revisions

Classical Dedekind sums are defined as \[ s(a,c) = \frac{1}{4c} \sum_{k=1}^{c-1} \cot (\tfrac{k}{c}\pi) \cot(\tfrac{ak}{c}\pi). \leqno{(1)} \] Here \(a,c\) are coprime rational integers, \(c>0\). They occur in relation with modular forms and similar functions. Now consider a Drinfeld ring \(A\), i.e., the affine ring of a smooth connected projective curve minus a closed point \(\infty\) over a finite field \(\mathbb F_q\), e.g. \(A = \mathbb F_q[T]\). We let further \(K:=\) fraction field of \(A\); \(K_{\infty}\) the completion of \(K\) at the place at \(\infty\), \(C_{\infty}:=\) completed algebraic closure of \(K_{\infty}\). Led by (1) and the analogy of number fields and function fields, the author defined -- in the most general framework -- Dedekind sums \(s_m^{\Lambda}(a,c) \in C_{\infty}\), where \(a,c \in A\) are coprime, \(m \in \mathbb N_0 = \{0,1,2,\dots\}\), and \(\Lambda\) is a rank-\(r\) \(A\)-lattice in \(C_{\infty}\), i.e., a discrete projective \(A\)-submodule of \(C_{\infty}\) of rank \(r\in \mathbb N\). The case where \(A = \mathbb F_q[T]\) and \(\Lambda\) is the lattice associated with the Carlitz module corresponds most neatly to classical Dedekind sums. The \(s_m^{\Lambda}(a,c)\) satisfy various interesting arithmetic properties. In particular, the author proves two different reciprocity laws that relate \(s_m^{\Lambda}(a,c)\) and \(s_m^{\Lambda}(c,a)\) (Theorems 2 and 3). He then defines higher-dimensional Dedekind sums (sums of products of more than 2 division values of the lattice in question) and finds similar properties.