On certain families of Drinfeld quasi-modular forms (Q1035586)

Let \(q = p^e\) be a prime power, \({\mathbb F}_q\) the field with \(q\) elements, \(\Theta\) an indeterminate over \({\mathbb F}_q\), \(A = {\mathbb F}_q[\Theta]\) the polynomial ring with field of fractions \(K = {\mathbb F}_q(\Theta)\), \(K_{\infty} = {\mathbb F}_q((1/ \Theta))\) the completion at infinity, and \(C\) the completed algebraic closure of \(K_{\infty}\). A \textit{Drinfeld modular form} for these data (and the full modular group \(\Gamma = {\text{ GL}}(2,A)\)) is a holomorphic (in the rigid-analytic sense) function \(f\) on the Drinfeld upper half plane \(\Omega := C \setminus K_{\infty}\) subject to \[ f\left(\frac{az+b}{cz+d}\right)= (cz+d)^w (ad-bc)^{-m} f(z) \] for \({a\,b\choose c\,d} \in \Gamma\) and some boundary condition. Here \(w\in{\mathbb Z}_{\geq 0}\) and \(m\in {\mathbb Z}/(q-1){\mathbb Z}\) are the weight and type, respectively, of \(f\). The \(C\)-algebra of all modular forms is generated by two distinguished modular forms \(g\) and \(h\), with \((w,m) = (q-1,0)\) and \((q+1,1)\). Taking the logarithmic derivative \[ E := - h'/h \] yields a function \(E\) similar to the classical ``false Eisenstein series of weight 2'', which satisfies a slightly more complicated transformation formula under elements of \(\Gamma\), and fails to be modular. The three functions \(g,h,E\) are algebraically independent and together generate the algebra \(\tilde{M}\) of quasi-modular forms. The \textit{depth} \(l\) of a quasi-modular form is (essentially) its degree in \(E\). Write \(\tilde{M}_{w,m}^{\leq l}\) for the finite-dimensional \(C\)-vector space of quasi-modular forms of weight \(w\), type \(m\) and depth \(\leq l\). Then \(E\in M_{2,1}^{\leq 1}\) and \[ \tilde{M} = \bigoplus_{{w\in {\mathbb Z}_{\geq 0}} \atop m\in {\mathbb Z}/(q-1) {\mathbb Z}} \bigcup_{l \geq 0} \tilde{M}_{w,m}^{\leq l}. \] Let \(D = (D_n)\) be the collection of higher derivatives, which in our characteristic-\(p\) situation replaces the powers \(D^n\) of \(D = (\frac{1}{2\pi i}) d/dz\). Then \(\tilde{M}\) is \(D\)-stable and we may moreover define higher Serre differential operators \(\partial_n^{(d)}\), which in turn satisfy properties like \[ \partial_n^{(w-l)}: \tilde{M}_{w,m}^{\leq l} \longrightarrow \tilde{M}_{w+2n,m+n}^{\leq l}. \] Some \(0 \not= f \in \tilde{M}_{w,m}^{\leq l}\) is defined to be \textit{extremal} if its vanishing order at \(\infty\) is maximal among all nonzero elements of \(\tilde{M}_{w,m}^{\leq l}\). The differential exponent of a nonzero element \(f\) of \(\tilde{M}\) is the smallest integer \(k \geq 0\) that satisfies \(D_{p^k} f/f \not\in \tilde{M}\) (\(\infty\) if \(D_n f/f \in \tilde{M}\) for all \(n\)). Further, \(f\) is \textit{differentially extremal} of weight \(w\), type \(m\) and depth \(l\) if \(f\) has maximal finite differential exponent in \(M_{w,m}^{\leq l} \setminus M_{w,m}^{\leq l-1}\). These notions are analogous with similar notions in the number field case, studied by \textit{M. Kaneko} and \textit{M. Koike} in [Kyushu J. Math. 60, No. 2, 457--470 (2006; Zbl 1126.11023)]. The authors now construct two series \((x_k)_{k \geq 0}\) and \((\xi_k)_{k \geq 0}\) of quasi-modular forms with \(x_k \in M_{q^k+1,1}^{\leq l}\) and \(\xi_k\in \tilde{M}_{(q+1)(q^k+1),2}\) such that {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1)] \(x_k\) is extremal (Theorem 1.2); \item[2)] \(\xi_k\) is extremal if \(q>2\) (Theorem 1.3); \item[3)] \(x_k\) is differentially extremal with differential exponent \((k+1)e\) (Theorem 1.6). \end{itemize}} Some of the tools (related to the higher differential operators) needed to prove the above results are of independent interest and could be useful elsewhere. Therefore the authors discuss these in more generality in a separate section.