On the non-vanishing of the central value of certain \(L\)-functions: unitary groups (Q2178264)

Let \(F\) be a number field, \(\mathbb A\) the adeles of \(F\), and \(G^*_n\) an \(F\)-quasisplit unitary group that is either \(U_{n,n}\) or \(U_{n+1,n}\). In the paper under review, the authors consider the central \(L\)-value \(L(1/2,\pi\times \chi)\), where \(\pi\) is an irreducible cuspidal automorphic representation of \(G^*_n(\mathbb A)\), and \(\chi\) is an automorphic character of the unitary group \(U_1\). They pose the following basic conjecture (Conjecture 1.1 in the paper): ``For any given generic global Arthur parameter \(\phi\) of \(G^*_n\), there exists an automorphic character \(\chi\) of \(U_1\) such that for every automorphic member \(\pi_0\) in the global Arthur packet \(\widetilde{\Pi}_{\phi}(G^*_n)\) associated to \(\phi\), the central value \(L(1/2,\pi\times \chi)\) [\dots] is non-zero.'' This conjecture is proved in the present paper in the case where \(G_n \in \{U_1,U_{2,1},U_{2,2}\}\). The authors also formulate an auxiliary conjecture, which amounts to existence of an automorphic member \(\pi_0\) in the same Arthur packet as \(\pi\) having a non-zero Fourier coefficient of a suitable form, and prove that this conjecture implies Conjecture 1.1 for all \(F\)-quasisplit unitary groups. As two main ingredients, the authors use (one direction of) the global Gan-Gross-Prasad conjecture proved in [the authors, Ann. Math. (2) 191, No. 3, 739--827 (2020; Zbl 1443.11084)], and also the endoscopic classification of representations of quasisplit unitary groups [\textit{C. P. Mok}, Endoscopic classification of representations of quasi-split unitary groups. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2015; Zbl 1316.22018)].