Hyperbolic lattice-point counting and modular symbols (Q988074)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a co-compact subgroup of \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb R)\) regarded as a fundamental group of the hyperbolic surface \(X:=\Gamma\setminus Y\), where \(Y\) denotes the upper half-plane. To every conjugacy class \(\{\gamma\}\) of \(\Gamma\) corresponds a unique closed oriented geodesic. Making use of this correspondence and fixing a real nonzero harmonic 1-form \(\alpha\) on \(X\) and two points \(z\), \(w\) in \(Y\), the authors define a ``modular symbol'' \[ \langle \gamma, \alpha\rangle:= \int_{\phi(\gamma)}\alpha, \] where \(\phi: \Gamma\to H_1(X,\mathbb Z)\) stands for the natural projection of the fundamental group of \(X\). Let \[ [\gamma, \alpha]:= (\mu(X)/2r(\gamma z,w))^{1/2}\|\alpha\|^{-1}\langle\gamma, \alpha\rangle, \] where \(r(u,v)\) denotes the hyperbolic distance between two points \(u\), \(v\) in \(Y\) and \(\mu(X)\) stands for the volume of \(X\). The authors prove that \[ {\#\{\gamma\mid\gamma\in\Gamma,\,a\leq [\gamma, \alpha]\leq b,\, r(\gamma z,w)\leq x\}\over \#\{\gamma\mid \gamma\in\Gamma,\, r(\gamma z,w)\leq x\}}\to (2\pi)^{-1/2} \int^b_a e^{-t^2/2}\,dt \] as \(r\to\infty\). Along the way of obtaining this result they introduce a new type of Dirichlet series twisted by modular symbols: their Dirichlet series, converging absolutely in some right half-plane, admits analytic continuation to the whole complex plane. The authors relate the poles of that analytic continuation to the spectrum of the Laplacian and determine its growth on some vertical lines. Making use of these results, they calculate all the asymptotic moments of modular symbols: for example, it is shown that \[ \sum_{\gamma\in\Gamma,r(\gamma z,w)\leq x}\langle\gamma, \alpha\rangle= -\pi e^x(\mu(X))^{-1} \int^z_w \alpha. \]