Nonvanishing of \(L\)-series and the combinatorial sieve. With an appendix by David E. Rohrlich: Unboundedness of the Tate-Shafarevich group in families of quadratic twists (Q1364811): Difference between revisions

Let \(f\) be a holomorphic newform of weight \(k\geq 2\), level \(N\), and trivial central character. Let \(d\) be a fundamental discriminant, \((d,N)=1\), and let \(\chi_d\) be the quadratic character given by the Kronecker symbol \(\chi_d(n)=(d/n)\). The corresponding twisted \(L\)-series \(L(s,f,\chi_d)\) has a functional equation under \(s\mapsto k-s\). Let \(S\) be a finite set of rational primes. Then the authors show that there are infinitely many odd fundamental discriminants \(d\) such that the central value \(L(k/2,f,\chi_d)\) is nonzero, such that \(\chi_d(p)=1\) for all \(p\in S\), and such that \(d\) has at most 4 prime factors. The authors first illustrate their proof by showing the existence of an integer \(r\) such that there are infinitely many such \(d\) with at most \(r\) prime factors. The proof of this combines sieve techniques with a method of \textit{H. Iwaniec} [Semin. Théor. Nombres Bordx., Sér. II 2, No. 2, 365-376 (1990; Zbl 0719.11029)]. They also make use of \textit{J. Guo}'s result [Duke Math. J. 83, No. 1, 157-190 (1996; Zbl 0861.11032)] concerning the non-negativity of central values. In the second part of the paper the authors show how to reduce \(r\) to \(4\) by applying the metaplectic techniques of \textit{S. Friedberg} and \textit{J. Hoffstein} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 142, No. 2, 385-423 (1995; Zbl 0847.11026)]. These allow one to control sums of these \(L\)-values, and thus to improve certain estimates substantially on average. The authors remark that in fact one can further sharpen their theorem to \(r=3\) by means of a weighted sieve. However, the details are omitted. In an appendix by \textit{David Rohrlich}, this theorem is used to show that given a modular elliptic curve \(E_0\) over \({\mathbb{Q}}\) and a positive integer \(n\), there exists a quadratic twist \(E\) of \(E_0\) such that the subgroup of the Tate-Shafarevich group of \(E\) consisting of elements of order dividing 2 has at least \(n\) elements. (More precisely, given a set \(S\) as above, the quadratic twist may be chosen so that the primes in \(S\) split in the corresponding quadratic extension.) The author notes that this is essentially a special case of a result of \textit{R. Bölling} [Math. Nachr. 67, 157-179 (1975; Zbl 0314.14008)].