The mean value of the class numbers of cubic function fields (Q2674319)

There are several applications of moments of \(L\)-functions, in particular their connection to the Lindelöf hypothesis for \(L\)-functions. The objective of the paper under review, is to find the mean value of the class numbers of cubic function fields. The authors compute the mean value of \(|L(s,\chi)|^2\) evaluated at \(s=1\) when \(\chi\) goes through the primitive cubic Dirichlet odd characters of \(A={\mathbb F}_q[T]\), where \(q\equiv 1\bmod 3\) and then find an asymptotic formula for the mean value of the class numbers \(h_m\) of the cubic function fields \(K_m=k(\sqrt[3] {m})\), where \(k={\mathbb F}_q(T)\) and \(m\) is a cube-free polynomial in \(A\), and \(\deg(m)\equiv 1\bmod 3\). Further, they compute the mean value of \(h_m\), where \(m=F_1F_2^2\in A\) with \(F_1\) and \(F_2\) coprime. The main result is the following. Let \(L(s,\chi)=\sum_{f\in{\mathcal M}}\frac{\chi(f)}{|f|^s}\), where \(|f|:=q^{\deg (f)}\), \(\chi\) is a Dirichlet character and \({\mathcal M}\) is the set of monic polynomials of \(A\). Let \(q\) be an odd prime power such that \(q\equiv 1\bmod 3\) and \(h\in A\). For a positive integer \(g\), let \(M_g\) be the set of monic cube-free polynomials \(m\in A\) such that \(k(\sqrt[3]{m})\) is of genus \(g\) and \(\deg(m)\equiv 1\bmod 3\). Let \(S_g:=\{\chi_m\mid m\in M_g\}\) be the set of all primitive cubic odd characters with conductor \(g\) such that \(\chi_m|_{{\mathbb F}_q^*}=\chi_3\). Then \[ \sum_{\chi\in S_g}|L(1,\chi)|^2=(C_1g+C_2)q^{g+1}+O(q^{\frac g2+ \varepsilon g}) \] and \[ \sum_{\chi\in S_g}\frac{|L(1,\chi)|^2}{|S_g|}=\frac{C_1g+C_2}{B_1g +B_2}+O(q^{\varepsilon g-\frac g2}), \] where \(B_i\) and \(C_i\) are explicit constants. They also prove that \[ \frac{\sum_{m\in M_g}h_m}{|M_g|}=\frac{(C_1g+C_2)q^g}{B_1g +B_2}+O(q^{\frac g2 +\varepsilon g}). \] The main computations are given in Section 3 and the proof of the main results are given in Section 4.