Continued fractions, special values of the double sine function, and Stark units over real quadratic fields (Q880055)

Let \((\omega_1,\omega_2)\) be a fixed ordered pair of positive real numbers. For a positive number \(x < \omega_1 + \omega_2\), the double sine function is defined as \[ S_2(x,\,(\omega_1,\omega_2)) = \Gamma_2(\omega_1+\omega_2-x,\, (\omega_1,\omega_2))/\Gamma_2(x,\,(\omega_1,\omega_2)), \] where \(\Gamma_2(x,\,(\omega_1,\omega_2))\) denotes the Barnes double gamma function. Let \(\mathbb F\) be a real quadratic field and \(\mathfrak m\) an integral ideal of \(\mathbb F\). Corresponding to the two different embeddings of \(\mathbb F\) into \(\mathbb R\), say \(i_1\) and \(i_2\), one conjectures the existence of two Stark units, \(\varepsilon_{\mathfrak m,1}\) and \(\varepsilon_ {\mathfrak m,2}\). For each class \(\mathcal C_+\) of the narrow ray class group modulo \(\mathfrak m\), the author defines new ray class invariants \(U_{\mathfrak m}^{(1)}(\mathcal C_+)\) and \(U_{\mathfrak m}^{(2)}(\mathcal C_+)\) depending on \(i_1\) and \(i_2\), respectively, as a product of special values of \(S_2(x,\,(\omega_1,\omega_2))\). The definition is based upon a continued fraction algorithm due to \textit{D.\ Zagier} [Astérisque 41--42, 135--151 (1977; Zbl 0359.12012)]; the author follows an approach by \textit{D.\ Hayes} [Expo.\ Math.\ 8, No. 2, 137--184 (1990; Zbl 0698.12007)]. The main result expresses the Stark units \(\varepsilon_{\mathfrak m,j}\) (\(j=1,2\)), provided they exist, in terms of \(U_{\mathfrak m}^{(j)}(\mathcal C_+)\) in an unified way. The author also proves the existence of the Stark units in the special cases that either \(\mathfrak m=(1)\) or the narrow class modulo \(\mathfrak m\) containing the principal ideal \((\text{N}\mathfrak m-1)\) is trivial (here N denotes the norm). The main result is illustrated by an example in which the field discriminant is 17.