On the theta operator for modular forms modulo prime powers

Abstract: We consider the classical theta operator

h e t a

on modular forms modulo

p^{m}

and level

N

prime to

p

where

p

is a prime greater than 3. Our main result is that

h e t a

mod

p^{m}

will map forms of weight

k

to forms of weight

k + 2 + 2 p^{m - 1} (p - 1)

and that this weight is optimal in certain cases when

m

is at least 2. Thus, the natural expectation that

h e t a

mod

p^{m}

should map to weight

k + 2 + p^{m - 1} (p - 1)

is shown to be false. The primary motivation for this study is that application of the

h e t a

operator on eigenforms mod

p^{m}

corresponds to twisting the attached Galois representations with the cyclotomic character. Our construction of the

h e t a

-operator mod

p^{m}

gives an explicit weight bound on the twist of a modular mod

p^{m}

Galois representation by the cyclotomic character.

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