Weighted Sato-Tate vertical distribution of the Satake parameter of Maass forms on \(\mathrm{PGL}(N)\) (Q486600)

The horizontal Sato-Tate problem asks whether, for a fixed modular form or function, respectively for an irreducible unramified automorphic representation, the renormalized Fourier coefficients respectively the Satake parameters at the primes \(p\) equidistribute with respect to the Sato-Tate measure as \(p\to\infty\). In contrast, the vertical Sato-Tate problem asks for equidistribution along the sequence of forms (ordered by Laplace eigenvalue) for any fixed prime. In this article, the author considers the vertical Sato-Tate problem for Hecke-Maass cusp forms on \(\text{SL}(N,\mathbb{Z})\), \(N\geq 2\). The expected equidistribution had been shown previously by \textit{R. W. Bruggeman} [Invent. Math. 45, 1--18 (1978; Zbl 0351.10019)] for \(N=2\), and by \textit{V. Blomer} et al. [Comment. Math. Helv. 89, No. 4, 895--919 (2014; Zbl 1317.11053)] for \(N=3\) (and independently again by the author). For \(N\in\{2,3\}\), it is known that the Fourier coefficients of Hecke-Maass cusp forms satisfy certain asymptotic orthogonality relations, including error terms. For \(N\geq 4\), the author conjectures similar orthogonality relations (without error terms). Under the assumption of this conjecture he provides two proofs for the vertical Sato-Tate equidistribution for any \(N\): a very short proof conditional on the Ramanujan conjecture, and a longer (still considerably short) proof without assuming the Ramanujan conjecture. In addition, for \(N=3\), by taking advantage of the known error terms in the orthogonality relations, he establishes an effective version of the Sato-Tate equidistribution for \(\text{SL}(3,\mathbb{Z})\).