Test vectors for local periods (Q1683659)

Let $F$ be a non-Archimedean local field of characteristic zero. Let $G$ be the $F$-points of a reductive algebraic group over $F$ and let $H$ be the $F$-points of a reductive subgroup of $G$ over $F$. An irreducible representation, say $\pi$, of $G$ is said to be $\chi$-distinguished with respect to $H$, where $\chi:H\to C^x$ is a character of $H$, if it admits a non-trivial $(H,\chi)$-equivariant linear form, which is to say $\Hom H(\pi,\chi)\neq 0$. Let $E/F$ be a quadratic extension of non-Archimedean local fields of characteristic zero. An irreducible admissible representation $\pi$ of $\mathrm{GL}(n,F)$ is said to be distinguished with respect to $\mathrm{GL}(n,F)$ if it admits a non-trivial linear form that is invariant under the action of $\mathrm{GL}(n,F)$. It is known that there is exactly one such invariant linear form up to multiplication by scalars, and an explicit linear form is given by integrating Whittaker functions over the $F$-points of the mirabolic subgroup when $\pi$ is unitary and generic. The authors of the paper under review prove that the essential vector of Jacquet, Piatetski-Shapiro and Shalika is a test vector for this standard distinguishing linear form and that the value of this form at the essential vector is a local $L$-value. They extend all their results to the non-unitary generic case. The paper is very well written with very deep results.