Generalized Bump-Hoffstein conjecture for coverings of the general linear groups (Q1703092)

The Bump-Hoffstein conjecture concerns the pair \((\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}^{(n)}_r,\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}^{(n)}_n)\), with \(r <n\), of Kazhdan-Patterson \(n\)-fold coverings and a pair of representations \((\pi, \Theta)\), where \(\pi\) is generic and \(\Theta\) is a theta representations. This paper investigates the extent to which the conjecture could be generalized to Brylinski-Deligne coverings. The author defines the notion of a fundamental pair \((\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}_r,\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}_R)\), \(r < R\), of \(n\)-fold coverings and introduces Whittaker models for coverings of \(\mathrm{GL}_r\). Suppose that \(\pi\) is a generic unramified representation of \(\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}_r\) and \(\Theta= \Theta(\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}_R, \chi)\) the theta representation associated to an exceptional character \(\chi\). Then \(\Theta\) possesses a unique Whittaker model \(W_\Theta\). Let \(W_\pi\) be any Whittaker model of \(\pi\). The author conjectures that, under some additional conditions, the Rankin-Selberg integral of \(\overline{W_\Theta}\) against \(W_\pi\) is equal to a certain \(L\)-function associated to \(\pi\) and \(\chi\) multiplied by \(W_\pi(1) \cdot \overline{W_\Theta}(1).\) For the pair \((\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}^{(n)}_r,\widetilde{\mathrm{GL}}^{(n)}_n)\) of Kazhdan-Patterson \(n\)-fold coverings with \(r <n\), this is the Bump-Hoffstein conjecture and it holds by the works of \textit{D. Bump} and \textit{S. Friedberg} [Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 66, Part 2, 1--17 (1999; Zbl 0983.11026)] and \textit{D. Ginzburg} [Compos. Math. 154, No. 4, 671--684 (2018; Zbl 1431.11067)]. The author provides evidence for the generalized Bump-Hoffstein conjecture by proving some special cases, namely the case \(r=2\) and also the case when \(\pi\), in addition to being generic, is also a theta representation.