Central derivatives of Eisenstein series and height pairings (Q1268032)

This important paper provides evidence that the derivatives at the center of symmetry of certain Siegel-Eisenstein series are related to arithmetical algebraic geometry. More precisely (following the introduction), the nonlinear Fourier coefficients of such derivatives can be expressed as a sum of terms associated to the primes (including infinity). The author gives evidence, at least in the case of genus 2, that the restrictions of these sums of certain subgroups give the expression of the global height pairing of algebraic cycles (0-cycles on Shimura curves attached to indefinite quaternion algebras over \(\mathbb{Q}\), in this case) in terms of local height pairings. Because of the occurrence of these Siegel-Eisenstein series in an integral representation of the \(L\)-functions attached to modular forms of weight 2 (having odd functional equation), his results, suitably completed, should have a Gross-Zagier formula for the central derivative of such \(L\)-functions as a consequence. His results suggest that it might be possible to establish Gross-Zagier type formulas for Shimura varieties of type \(O(2n-1,2)\) and \(U(2n-1,1)\), and in certain other sporadic cases, along the same lines. One of these sporadic cases -- that of the central derivative of the triple product \(L\)-function attached to a triple of modular forms of weight 2 -- was considered jointly with Gross and Zagier. In Part I, the author reviews the definition and basic properties of the Siegel-Eisenstein series and states the Siegel-Weil formula, which describes their behavior at \(s=0\), the center of the critical strip. His results are a mild extension of some of the results of \textit{S. Kudla} and \textit{S. Rallis} [Ann. Math. (2) 140, 1--80 (1994; Zbl 0818.11024)], and only a few indications of the proofs are given. He then considers the nonsingular Fourier coefficients of the derivative at \(s=0\) of an incoherent Eisenstein series, i.e., of a series with an odd functional equation. In Part II, he refines the general formula of Part I for derivatives of nonsingular Fourier coefficients in the special case of incoherent Siegel-Eisenstein series of genus 2 and weight \(\frac{3}{2}\). Essential use is made of results of Shimura and Kitaoka on the Archimedean and non-Archimedean local factors of such coefficients. In Part III, he defines weighted 0-cycles, equipped with Green currents, on Shimura curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\) and computes the local components of their Gillet-Soulé height pairing at the primes of good reduction of the Shimura curve and at \(p=\infty\). In the non-Archimedean case, the essential part of the height pairing is obtained via the work of \textit{B. H. Gross} and \textit{K. Keating} [Invent. Math. 112, 225-245 (1993; Zbl 0811.11026)] and of \textit{K. Keating} [Intersection numbers of Heegner divisors on Shimura curves, preprint (1994)]. The resulting quantities coincide, up to a simple constant, with certain corresponding terms in the nonsingular Fourier coefficients of the central derivatives of the incoherent Siegel-Eisenstein series. The introductions to Parts I--III contain a much more detailed summary of the results of this paper. Speculations about possible higher-dimensional generalizations, and additional remarks, can be found in the final section. The Appendix gives some details on interpolation of local representation densities.