Rankin-Cohen brackets of eigenforms and modular forms (Q2187124)

In this article, the author considers when the Rankin-Cohen bracket of an eigenform and a modular form is again an eigenform and whether Hecke operators are reducible or not. Let \(M_k\) and \(S_k\) be the spaces of modular forms of weight \(k\) and of cusp forms of weight \(k\) with respect to \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\) respectively. The \(n\)-th Rankin-Cohen bracket is a bilinear homomorphism of \(M_k\times M_\ell\rightarrow M_{k+\ell+2n}\) defined by \[[f,g]_n=\sum_{r+s=n}(-1)^r\left(\begin{smallmatrix}n+k-1\\ s\end{smallmatrix}\right)\left(\begin{smallmatrix}n+\ell-1\\ r\end{smallmatrix}\right)f^{(r)}(z)g^{(s)}(z),\] where \(f^{(a)}=\frac{d^af}{dz^a}/(2\pi i)^a\). Let \(X_{n,f}\) be the image of the induced homomorphism \(R_{n,f}\) of \(M_\ell\) to \(M_{k+\ell+2n}\) when \(f\in M_k\) is fixed. If one of \(f\) and \(g\) is a cusp form or \(n>0\), then \(X_{n,f}\subset S_{k+\ell+2n}\). Let \(T_m\) be the Hecke operator on \(S_{k+\ell+2n}\). The author gives following results. Let \(f\) be an eigenform. If \(\dim S_{k+\ell+2n}>\dim M_\ell\) and \(X_{n,f}\) contains an eigenform, then \(T_m\) are reducible for all \(m\). Otherwise, depending on the injectivity of \(R_{n,f}\), \(T_m\) are reducible for all \(m\) and /or the Rankin-Cohen bracket produces an eigenform. In fact, if \(X_{n,f}\) is a proper subset of \( S_{k+\ell+2n}\) and contains an eigenform, then all Hecke operators are reducible. However, Maeda's conjecture states that the Hecke algebra over \(\mathbb Q\) of \(S_k\) is simple and its Galois closure has Galois group isomorphic to the Symmetric group. This conjecture implies that all Hecke operators are irreducible. Therefore, combining the conjecture and his results, the author concludes that eigenforms cannot be obtained through the Rankin-Cohen bracket in a way such that one of the factors is an eigenform, under some conditions assumed (see Theorems 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3).