Horizontal non-vanishing of Heegner points and toric periods (Q2287940)

Let \(F\) be a totally real number field and \(A\) a modular \(\mathrm{GL}_2\)-type abelian variety over \(F\). Let \(K/F\) be a CM quadratic extension. Let \(\chi\) be a class group character over \(K\) such that the Rankin-Selberg convolution \(L(s, A, \chi)\) is self-dual. Suppose first that the root number of \(L(s,A,\chi)=-1\). The authors show in this case that the number of class group characters \(\chi\) with bounded ramification and such that \(L'(1, A, χ)\ne 0\) increases with the absolute value of the discriminant of \(K\). Now suppose that the root number of \(L(s,A,\chi)=+1\). In this case, the authors consider more generally a cuspidal cohomological automorphic representation \(\pi\) over \(\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{A}_F)\) and Hecke characters \(\chi\) over \(K\). The authors show in this case that the number of Hecke characters \(\chi\) with fixed infinity-type and bounded ramification such that \(L(1/2,\pi,\chi)\ne 0\) increases with the absolute value of the discriminant of \(K\). The Gross-Zagier formula and the Waldspurger formula relate the two problems to horizontal non-vanishing of Heegner points (when the root number is \(-1\)) and toric periods (when the root number is \(+1\)). On both cases, the proof goes through studying Zariski density of these objects in suitable Shimura curves. The results in this paper improve and extend related results due to Cornut and Vatsal.