On the characteristic power series of the \(U\) operator (Q685874)

Let \(p\geq 5\) be a prime number, let \(N\) be an integer not divisible by \(p\), and let \(k\) be an integer. Atkin's \(U\) operator acts on the \(p\)-adic Banach space of overconvergent modular forms of weight \(k\) and level \(N\), and this action is known to be completely continuous. One can therefore consider the characteristic power series \(P_ k(t)=\sum a_ m(k)t^ m\) of the \(U\) operator acting on this space. The main result of this paper is that this power series varies ``\(p\)-adically continuously'' as a function of \(k\), in the following sense: if \(k_ 1\) and \(k_ 2\) are two integers such that \(k_ 1\equiv k_ 2 \pmod {p^ n(p-1)}\), then, for each \(m\geq 0\), we have \(a_ m(k_ 1)\equiv a_ m(k_ 2) \pmod {p^{n+1}}\). This raises the question of whether the \(a_ m(k)\) are in fact Iwasawa functions of \(k\); the authors cannot answer this question, but they do show that some of the congruence conditions formulated by Serre for such functions are satisfied. Finally, the authors point out that these results are connected to (a \(p\)-adic version of) the conjectures they described in their previous paper ``Families of modular eigenforms'' [Math. Comput. 58, 793-806 (1992; Zbl 0773.11030)].