Hypergeometric functions over finite fields and modular forms. A survey and new conjectures (Q2066107)

This is a survey article on hypergeometric functions over finite fields, which are analogues of classical hypergeometric series. These functions are used in, among others, character sums evaluations, counting points on algebraic varieties over finite fields, and their relations to Fourier coefficients of modular forms. After defining these hypergeometric functions over finite fields (and also over \(p\)-adic fields), the article presents the main results about possible relations between hypergeometric functions and Fourier coefficients of some modular forms of weight greater than two. These include examples of Evans, McCarthy-Papanikolas, and Ono for weight 3, Ahlgren-Ono for weight 4, Frechette et al. for weight 6. Also new conjectural relations are discussed. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1479.47003].