Trace formulae and applications to class numbers (Q2248107)

Let \(K\) be an imaginary quadratic extension of \(\mathbb{Q}\) of class number greater than one. Let \(\Gamma = \mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathcal{O}_K)\) act on the hyperbolic \(3\)-space \(\mathbb{H}^3\) in the standard manner. The main concern of this article is the asymptotic behaviour for \(h_\Gamma(d, \mathfrak{d})\), the class number of \(\Gamma\)-equivalent \(\mathcal{O}_K\)-integral binary quadratic forms with varying discriminant (resp. primitive discriminant) \(d\) (resp. \(\mathfrak{d}\)). The core tool is the Selberg trace formula for \(\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})\) acting on \(L^2(\Gamma \backslash \mathbb{H}^3)\), which can be employed to study the class numbers by using a bijection between the \(\Gamma\)-equivalence classes of forms with certain loxodromic \(\Gamma\)-conjugacy classes in \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathcal{O}_K)\). The traces of the Hecke operators \(T_\lambda\) acting on a Laplacian eigenspace \(\mathcal{E}_\lambda\) are also obtained in terms of residues of a certain \(L\)-series \(L^*_v(s)\); here \(v \in \mathcal{O}_K\), \(v \neq 0\).