Nonvanishing of Hecke \(L\)-functions and the Bloch-Kato conjecture (Q621303)

The authors study the central values of \(L\)-functions associated to a large class of algebraic characters of imaginary quadratic fields. For such a field \(K\) of discriminant \(-D\) with \(D > 3\) and \(D \equiv 3\;\text{mod}\;4,\) let \(\varepsilon_D : \bigl( {\mathcal O}_{K}/\sqrt{-D}\bigl)^\ast \to \{ \pm 1 \}\) be the quadratic character induced by the Dirichlet character \((-D/\ldotp).\) A canonical Hecke character in the sense of Rohrlich is a Hecke character \(\psi_k\) of \(K\) of weight \(k \in {\mathbb N},\) infinity type \((2 k-1, 0)\) and conductor \({\sqrt{-D}}\;{\mathcal O}_K\) which satisfies \(\psi_k (\alpha\;{\mathcal O}_K) = \varepsilon_D (\alpha) \alpha^{2k-1}\) for \(\bigl( \alpha\;{\mathcal O}_K, \sqrt{-D}\;{\mathcal O}_K \bigl) = 1.\) All such \(\psi_k\) are obtained by multiplying one of them by a character of the class group \(C\!\ell(K).\) The \(L\)-function of \(\psi_k\) is defined by \(L(\psi_k, s) = \sum_{\mathfrak a} \psi_k ({\mathfrak a}) N_{K/{\mathbb Q}} ({\mathfrak a})^{-s},\) \(Re (s) > k + {1 \over 2},\) the sum being over non zero ideals \({\mathfrak a}\) of \({\mathcal O}_K.\) It is known that \(L(\psi_k, s)\) has an analytic continuation to \({\mathbb C}\) and satisfies a functional equation under \(s \mapsto 2k-s.\) The non-vanishing of the central values \(L(\psi_k, k)\) and their quadratic twists [for \(d \equiv 1\;\text{mod}\;4\) and coprime to \(D,\) the quadratic twist of \(\psi_k\) is defined by \(\psi_{d, k} = \bigl( d/N_{K/{\mathbb Q}} (\ldotp) \bigl) \psi_k\)] has been studied using a wide-range of techniques, starting with the work of \textit{B. H. Gross} [Arithmetic on elliptic curves with complex multiplication. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 776. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1980; Zbl 0433.14032)] on ``canonical'' elliptic \({\mathbb Q}\)-curves \(A(D)\) associated to \(\psi_1\). In this paper the authors attack this problem from a somewhat different perspective. They first establish an asymptotic formula for the ``first moment'' \({1 \over h(-D)} \sum_{\psi_{d, k}} L (\psi_{d, k}, k),\) where \(h(-D)\) is the class number of \(K,\) every prime divisor of \(2\,d\) splits in \(K\) and sign \((d) = (-1)^{k-1}.\) Their proof relies on an ``equidistribution theorem'' for Heegner points. Then they combine their asymptotic formula with subconvexity bounds to prove a non-vanishing theorem for certain subfamilies of canonical Hecke characters. More precisely, for a fixed \(\psi_{d, k},\) they give a (non effective) lower bound for the cardinal of the set of all \(\psi_{d, k} \xi,\) \(\xi\) running over the characters of \(C\!\ell(K)/2\;C\!\ell (K),\) such that \(L(\psi_{d, k} \xi, k) \not= 0.\) Giving this non-vanishing theorem, it is natural to ask if it sheds light on the arithmetic of the Selmer groups corresponding to the canonical Hecke characters. Recall that the Bloch-Kato conjecture predicts an exact formula for the algebraic part of \(L(\psi_k, k)\) in terms of periods and arithmetic data, most notably the order of the relevant Selmer group. The authors prove the \(p\)-part of the Bloch-Kato conjecture for primes \(p\) which split in \(K\) and do not divide the conductor \(f\) of \(\psi_k\) nor the degree over \(K\) of the ray class field of conductor \(f.\) Their proof relies on the main conjecture of Iwasawa theory for imaginary quadratic fields due to \textit{K. Rubin} [Invent. Math. 103, No. 1, 25--68 (1991; Zbl 0737.11030)]. Combining this with their non-vanishing theorem, they obtain almost immediately finiteness results for the groups \(Sel_p (\psi_{d, k}/K).\)