Quadratic Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series of type \(D_4^{(1)}\) (Q6913375)

The theory of multiple Dirichlet series is concerned with Dirichlet series that are sums of twisted \(L\)-functions times suitable weighting factors. For example, if \(F\) is a global field, \(d\in F^\times,\) and \(\chi_d\) denotes the character attached to \(F(\sqrt{d})/F\) (a quadratic character if \(d\) is not a square), then one may seek to study a function of \(n+1\) complex variables \(s_i\) that is roughly the sum over nonzero integral \(d\) of \(L(s_1,\chi_d)\dots L(s_n,\chi_d) d^{-s_{n+1}}\). There are two broad issues. One is to properly define a natural series, which may be viewed as a local problem at each prime and includes the desideratum that there are functional equations that involve a reflection in \textit{each} variable \(s_i\) (including \(s_{n+1}\)), and the other is to meromorphically continue the resulting series in the variables \(s_i\) up to some natural barrier, a global problem. See [\textit{D. Bump} et al., Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 33, No. 2, 157--175 (1996; Zbl 0865.11043)], where the basic construction is proposed and connected to a number of known examples and to moment problems. \N\NBeginning with any reduced root system, \textit{B. Brubaker} et al. [Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 75, 91--114 (2006; Zbl 1112.11025)] proposed the existence of `Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series' that generalize the above construction and satisfy a group of functional equations isomorphic to the Weyl group of this root system. Such series were constructed by \textit{G. Chinta} and \textit{P. E. Gunnells} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 23, No. 1, 189--215 (2010; Zbl 1254.11048)] who obtained the local parts via averaging. Using the Chinta-Gunnells method, such objects have been constructed for the root system attached to a symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebra [\textit{K.-H. Lee} and \textit{Y. Zhang}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 367, No. 1, 597--625 (2015; Zbl 1322.11049)]. In this case the group of functional equations is infinite. Meromorphic continuation to a shift of the Tits cone may be established by convexity methods; continuation beyond this region is expected but this is more delicate. Such contination has important consequences for understanding the moments of \(L\)-functions. If \(F\) is a rational function field, a good bit more is known, and the local and global problems are connected. \textit{I. Whitehead} [Compos. Math. 152, No. 12, 2503--2523 (2016; Zbl 1407.11103)] showed that it is possible to construct and uniquely characterize these series for the affine root system \(\tilde{A}_n\) by a set of natural axioms.\N\NThis paper concerns the Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series attached to the affine root system \(D_4^{(1)}\) over rational function fields of odd characteristic. Such series are obtained by summing four quadratic \(L\)-functions; \(n=4\) in the notation of the first paragraph. The meromorphic continuation of these series to \(\mathbb{C}^5\) was established by \textit{A. Bucur} and \textit{A. Diaconu} [Mosc. Math. J. 10, No. 3, 485--517 (2010; Zbl 1220.14020)]. In this article the precise connections to the Chinta-Gunnells and Whitehead constructions are obtained. These connections turn out to be of high interest and illustrate the way that the positive affine imaginary roots interact with domains of continuation. As a consequence the authors prove that the axiomatic (Whitehead) series admits meromorphic continuation to the interior of the complexified Tits cone. The authors also give the polar divisor and exact residue at each pole, thereby obtaining an exact formula for the weighted fourth moment of the central values of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions, and an asymptotic formula for this weighted moment that they expect to generalize to any global field. They also give formulas for the unramified Whittaker functions on the metaplectic double cover of a simply connected affine Kac-Moody group of type \(D_4^{(1)}\) over a non-archimedean local field, as studied by \textit{M. M. Patnaik} and \textit{A. Puskás} [Duke Math. J. 168, No. 4, 553--653 (2019; Zbl 1498.20129)]. The key ingredient in this work is a \textit{new} functional equation for the Chinta-Gunnells average for Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series attached to affine root systems.