Degenerate and character Dedekind sums (Q880060)

The function \(((x))\) is defined by \[ ((x))=\begin{cases} x-[x]-\frac{1}{2}, &\text{if }x\text{ is not an integer,}\\0 &\text{otherwise.}\end{cases} \] In particular, the Dedekind sum \(S(h,k),\) arising in the theory of the Dedekind-eta function, is defined by \[ S(h,k)=\sum_{j\bmod k}\left(\left(\frac{j}{k}\right)\right) \left(\left(\frac{hj}{k}\right)\right), \] where \(h\) is an integer and \(k\) is a positive integer and \((h,k)=1\). The most important property of Dedekind sums is the following reciprocity theorem: If \(h\) and \(k\) are coprime positive integers, then \[ S(h,k)+S(k,h)=-\frac{1}{4}+\frac{1}{12}(\frac{h}{k}+\frac{k}{h}+\frac{1}{hk}). \] Many mathematicians have studied this sum and this reciprocity theorem. \textit{T. M. Apostol} [Duke Math. J. 17, 147--157 (1950; Zbl 0039.03801)] generalized these to sums related to the Bernoulli functions as follows: \[ S_{p}(h,k)=\sum_{j\bmod k}\frac{j}{k}\overline{B}_{p} \biggl(\frac{hj}{k}\biggr), \] where \(\overline{B}_{p}(x)=B_{p}(x-[x])\), and \(B_{p}(x)\) denote Bernoulli polynomials. He also proved reciprocity theorem of these sums. By using degenerate Bernoulli polynomials, which were defined by \textit{L. Carlitz} [Util. Math. 15, 51--88 (1979; Zbl 0404.05004)], the authors define the following sums \[ S_{p}(h,k\mid \lambda )=\sum_{j=0}^{k-1}\frac{j}{k}\overline{\beta }_{p}\left(\lambda ,\frac{hj}{k}\right), \] where \(\overline{\beta }_{p}(x)\) denote degenerate Bernoulli functions. They define generalized Dedekind character sums. They also prove reciprocity theorems of these sums.