The Manin-Drinfeld theorem and the rationality of Rademacher symbols (Q2684405)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a non-cocompact Fuchsian group. Then, \(Y(\Gamma)=\Gamma\backslash\mathbb{H}\) is a non-compact Riemann surface with the compactification \(X(\Gamma)\), which is a compact Riemann surface. The classical theorem of Manin-Drinfeld is that, if \(\Gamma\) is furthermore a congruence subgroup of \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})\), then the difference of two cusps of \(X(\Gamma)\) is a torsion point in the Jacobian \(J(\Gamma)\) of \(X(\Gamma)\). In general, the subgroup of \(J(\Gamma)\) spanned by the difference of two cusps is called the \textit{cuspidal group} \(C(\Gamma)\), and the Manin-Drinfeld theorem can be concisely stated as \(C(\Gamma)\subset J(\Gamma)^{\mathrm{tors}}\). There have been several interesting results that compare \(C(\Gamma)\) with \(J(\Gamma)^{\mathrm{tors}}\); see [\textit{B. Mazur}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 47, 33--186 (1977; Zbl 0394.14008)] for example. The paper in review gives a new proof of the Manin-Drinfeld theorem which does not use the Hecke operators and thus applies to non-congruence modular curves. This is done by realizing that, for a degree zero divisor supported at cusps, the periods of the associated meromorphic differential are expressed in terms of the values of the corresponding Rademacher symbol, which generalizes the classical expression of the Rademacher symbol as the period of Eisenstein series, \[ \int_{z_{0}}^{\gamma z_{0}}E_{2}(z)dz=\Psi(\gamma). \] From this, the author deduces that the Manin-Drinfeld theorem holds if the Rademacher symbols are valued in \(\mathbb{Q}\). The author also proves the rationality of Rademacher symbols for many non-cocompact Fuchsian groups, including the congruence subgroups (thereby yielding a new proof of the original Manin-Drinfeld theorem) and the genus \(0\) non-cocompact Fuchsian groups. This provides infinitely many non-congruence modular curves that satisfy the Manin-Drinfeld theorem.