On the first sign change of Hecke eigenvalues of newforms (Q2498491)

Let \(f\) be a normalized, cuspidal Hecke eigenform of even integral weight \(k\) and squarefree level \(N\). By a theorem of Hecke, we know that the Fourier coefficients are real and applying a classical theorem of Landau, we deduce that the coefficients change sign infinitely often. This paper addresses the question of estimating the first \(n\) such that the \(n\)-th Fourier coefficient of \(f\) is strictly negative. The authors show that there exists an \(n\) coprime to \(N\) satisfying \[ n \leq c_1 kN (\log^A k)\exp \left( c_2\sqrt{\frac{\log (N+1)}{\log \log (N+2)}}\right) \] such that the \(n\)-th Fourier coefficient of \(f\) is strictly negative. Here \(A\) is any real number \(> 26\), \(c_1 >0\) is a constant depending only on \(A\) and \(c_2 >2\) is an absolute constant. The key ingredients are the Rankin-Selberg method and a result of Goldfeld, Hoffstein and Lieman giving a lower bound for the symmetric square \(L\)-function attached to \(f\) at \(s=1\).