The second moment of \(\mathrm{GL}(3) \times\mathrm{GL}(2)\) \(L\)-functions at special points (Q2376878)

The paper considers the second moment of a family of Rankin--Selberg \(L\)-functions associated to a fixed Maaß form \(\phi\) for \(\mathrm{SL}(3,\mathbb{Z})\), which is an eigenform for all Hecke operators, and an orthonormal basis \(u_j\) of Hecke--Maaß cusp forms for \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})\) with the Laplace eigenvalues \(\frac14 +t_j^2\), at the special values \(\frac12 + it_j\) of its argument. Let \(L(u_j\times\phi ,s)\) denote one of these \(L\)-functions. Then, the main result of the paper is the following estimate of the second moment \[ \sum_{t_j\leq T} |L(u_j\times \phi,\tfrac12 +it_j)|^2 \ll T^{2+\varepsilon}. \] The same method with minor modifications also gives the estimate of the sixth moment \[ \sum_{t_j\leq T} |L(u_j,\tfrac12 +it_j)|^6 \ll T^{2+\varepsilon}. \] Both estimates are consistent with the Lindelöf hypothesis, and the latter is the first such estimate for \(L\)-functions for \(\mathrm{GL}(2)\). After using an approximate functional equation for the Rankin-Selberg \(L\)-function and some simplifying reductions, the main tool in the proof is a certain large sieve inequality. Another large sieve inequality obtained by \textit{J.-M. Deshouillers} and \textit{H. Iwaniec} [Contemp. Math. 53, 51--95 (1986; Zbl 0595.10025)] could only give the estimate for the fourth moment in the second considered case. \textit{W. Luo} [Acta Arith. 70, No. 4, 377--391 (1995; Zbl 0821.11035)] improved their inequality to get the bound \(T^{9/4+\varepsilon}\) for the sixth moment (and certain bound for the eight). In this paper Luo's large sieve inequality is further developed at the special points in question to improve the estimates. The Voronoi summation formula for \(\mathrm{GL}(3)\) [\textit{S. D. Miller} and \textit{W. Schmid}, Ann. Math. (2) 164, No. 2, 423--488 (2006; Zbl 1162.11341)] is used for final cancellations.