First eigenvalue of Laplace operator on locally symmetric space (Q2509920)

Let \(G\) be a simple linear Lie group. Denote by \(\lambda_1(G)\) the infimum of the Laplacian eigenvalues of nontrivial irreducible unitary spherical representations of \(G\). For every lattice \(\Gamma\) in \(G\), we denote by \(\lambda_1(\Gamma)\) the first Laplacian eigenvalue on the \(L^2\)-spectrum of \(\Gamma \backslash G/K\), where \(K\) is a maximal compact subgroup, and let \(\gamma(G) = \inf_\Gamma \lambda_1(\Gamma)\). Here we adopt the sign convention so that these numbers are all non-negative. Clearly, we have \(\gamma(G) \geq \lambda_1(G)\). It is proved by \textit{J.- Li} [in: First international congress of Chinese mathematicians. Proceedings of the ICCM '98, Beijing, China, 1998. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. AMS/IP Stud. Adv. Math. 20, 271--278 (2001; Zbl 1044.58037)] that equality holds when \(G\) is a classical group over \(\mathbb{R}\) or \(\mathbb{C}\), with the possible exceptions of \(\mathrm{SL}(n, \mathbb{H})\) and \(\mathrm{SO}(2n+1, \mathbb{C})\). This paper studies one of the remaining cases, say \(\mathrm{SO}(2n+1, \mathbb{C})\) for \(n \geq 5\). One main step of this article is to show that the infimum \(\lambda_1(G)\) is attained by a unique representation \(\pi_1\), namely the \(\theta\)-lifting of the trivial representation of \(\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})\), for which \(\lambda_1\) equals \((2n+1)(2n-3)/4\). On the other hand, the study of \(\gamma(G)\) is ``automorphic'' in nature. Explicit lower bounds for \(\lambda_1(\Gamma)\) are obtained in the Theorem B of this article, for \(\Gamma \subset G(\mathcal{O}_F)\) where \(F\) is an imaginary quadratic field and \(\mathcal{O}_F\) its ring of integers. The arguments are largely based upon the theory of theta lifting and representations of low rank, due to \textit{R. Howe} [Lect. Notes Math. 880, 211--248 (1981; Zbl 0463.10015)] and \textit{J.-S. Li} [Am. J. Math. 119, No. 3, 523--578 (1997; Zbl 0871.11036)].