The central value of the Rankin-Selberg \(L\)-functions (Q1005070)

Let \(u_j(z)\), \(j=1,2,\cdots,\) be an orthonormal basis for the even Maass forms of level one, and suppose that \(u_j(z)\) has Laplacian eigenvalue \(1/4+t_j^2\). Let \(f\) be a fixed automorphic form for \(\text{GL}(3,{\mathbb A}_{\mathbb Q})\) of level \(1\). Let \(L(s,u_j)\) be the standard \(L\)-function of \(u_j\) and let \(L(s,f\times u_j)\) be the degree 6 Rankin-Selberg \(L\)-function, each \(L\)-function normalized to have functional equation under \(s\mapsto 1-s\) when multiplied by suitable Gamma factors. In this paper, the author shows that the sum \[ \sum_{j=1}^\infty \exp(-t_j^2/T^2) L(1/2,f\times u_j) L(1/2,u_j) \] is a (specific) nonzero constant times \(T^2\) plus a remainder of \(\text{O}_{\varepsilon,f}(T^{11/6+\epsilon})\). As a Corollary, it follows that there are infinitely many \(j\) such that the central \(L\)-values \(L(1/2,f\times u_j)\) and \(L(1/2,u_j)\) are simultaneously nonzero. The author remarks that the methods of this paper also give \[ \sum_j\exp((t_j-T)^2/T^{5/3})L(1/2,f\times u_j) L(1/2,u_j)=\text{O}_{\varepsilon,f}(T^{11/6+\varepsilon}). \] The author's proof of her main result makes use of approximate functional equations to represent the central \(L\)-values (following the treatment of Iwaniec and Kowalski), the Kuznetsov formula on \(\text{GL}(2)\), and the Voronoi formula on \(\text{GL}(3)\). The latter result was established by \textit{S. D. Miller} and \textit{W. Schmid} [Ann. Math. (2) 164, No. 2, 423-488 (2006; Zbl 1162.11341)] using the theory of automorphic distributions, and by \textit{D. Goldfeld} and the author [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2006, No. 10, Article ID 86295, 25 p. (2006; Zbl 1144.11039)] using analytic methods.