Gravity, strings, modular and quasimodular forms (Q1933466): Difference between revisions

From the text: ``In the present lecture notes we have given a partial -- in all possible senses -- review of the emergence of (quasi)modular forms in the context of gravitational instantons and string theory. These forms often appear as the consequence of remarkable, explicit or hidden, symmetries, and turn out to be valuable tools for unravelling a great deal of properties in a variety of physical setups. The latter include monopole scattering, Ricci flows, nonperturbative (instantonic) corrections to string moduli spaces (via their Fourier coefficients), or perturbative expansions in quantum field theory (via string amplitudes). We have described how the classical holomorphic Eisenstein series ... occur in the context of gravitational instantons or in studying non-perturbative effects. We have also encountered the non-holomorphic Eisenstein series, the analytic properties of which are described in [\textit{R. P. Langlands}, On the functional equations satisfied by Eisenstein series. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 544. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1976; Zbl 0332.10018)] and [\textit{C. Mœglin} and \textit{J.-L. Waldspurger}, Spectral decomposition and Eisenstein series. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press (1995; Zbl 0846.11032)]. This whole analysis has led us to argue that one needs novel types of modular functions, standing beyond the usual Eisenstein series. Although the analytic properties of these series are still poorly understood, they seem to be a cornerstone for understanding the challenging nature of interactions in string theory and its consequences in quantum field theory''.