Determining modular forms on \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\) by central values of convolution \(L\)-functions (Q734964)

The present article is in the spirit of works by \textit{W. Luo} and \textit{D. Ramakrishnan} [Invent. Math. 130, No. 2, 371--398 (1997; Zbl 0905.11024)], \textit{W. Luo} [Math. Ann. 314, No. 3, 591--600 (1999; Zbl 0932.11033)], \textit{G. Chinta} and \textit{A. Diaconu} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2005, No. 48, 2941--2967 (2005; Zbl 1085.11026)], and \textit{L. Merel} [Prog. Math. 270, 283--309 (2009; Zbl 1233.11055)]. The unifying theme in these works is that the authors are asking, in various cases, to what extent a modular form is determined by the special values of its twists by a family of modular forms. Here, the authors, ask a similar question, choosing for the family the collection of all forms of level one and weight \(k\). Let \(l, l'\) and \(k\) denote positive even integers. Let \(H_k (1)\) denote the basis of normalized Hecke eigenforms for the space of holomorphic cusp forms of weight \(k\) and level 1. Suppose that \(g \in H_l (1)\) and \(g' H_{l'} (1)\). The authors prove, that if \(L(1/2, f \otimes g) = L(1/2, f \otimes g' )\) for all \(f \in H_k (1)\) for infinitely many \(k\), then \(l = l'\) and \(g = g'\). The main idea is to express the central value of the twisted \(L\)-function in terms of a rapidly decaying series built from Fourier coefficients.