Nonvanishing of \(L\)-values and the Weyl law (Q5953608)

Let \(\Gamma \) be a Fuchsian group of the first kind, and let \(N_{\Gamma }(T)\) be the counting function (in terms of \(t\)) for the eigenvalues \(1/4+t^2\) of the hyperbolic Laplacian of the surface \(\Gamma \backslash \mathbb{H}\), where \(\mathbb{H}\) is the upper half-plane. The Weyl law is the claim NEWLINE\[NEWLINEN_{\Gamma }(T) \sim (4\pi)^{-1}\mu (\Gamma \backslash \mathbb{H})T^2,NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(\mu \) denotes the hyperbolic area. It is shown that this is false for generic hyperbolic surfaces under the assumption that the eigenvalue multiplicities of the Laplacian on \(\Gamma _0(p)\backslash \mathbb{H}\), for a prime \(p\), are bounded. Owing to the work of \textit{R. Phillips} and \textit{P. Sarnak} [Invent. Math. 80, 339-364 (1985; Zbl 0558.10017)], this assertion can be reduced to non-vanishing of ``critical'' values of certain Rankin-Selberg zeta-functions. In a previous paper [Duke Math. J. 69, 411-425 (1993; Zbl 0789.11032)], the author had proved such a result, which is however slightly too weak for the present purpose. This is now sharpened so as to show the non-vanishing property in a positive proportion of cases.