The Jack Daniels problem

DOI10.1016/J.JNT.2015.06.001MaRDI QIDQ898813zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors John F. R. Duncan, Ken Ono

Publication date 21 December 2015

Published in Journal of Number Theory (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1411.5354

zbMATH Keywords

monstermoonshinesupersingular elliptic curve

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Relationship to Lie algebras and finite simple groups (11F22) Simple groups: sporadic groups (20D08)

Abstract: In 1975 Ogg offered a bottle of Jack Daniels for an explanation of the fact that the prime divisors of the order of the monster are the primes p for which the characteristic p supersingular j-invariants are all defined over the field with p elements. This coincidence is often suggested to be the first hint of monstrous moonshine, the deep unexpected interplay between the monster and modular functions. We revisit Ogg's problem, and we point out (using existing tools) that the moonshine functions for order p elements give the set of characteristic p supersingular j-invariants (apart from 0 and 1728). Furthermore, we discuss this coincidence of the two seemingly unrelated sets of primes using the first principles of moonshine.

Review text

The Jack Daniels problem is a problem concerning the fact that the prime divisors \(2,3,5,7,11\), \(13,17,19,23,29,31,41,47,59,71\) of the order \(| {\mathbb M} |\) of the monster simple group \({\mathbb M}\) are the primes \(p\) for which the characteristic \(p\) supersingular \(j\)-invariants are defined over the prime field \({\mathbb F}_p\). This fact was first noticed by A. Ogg in 1975. Let \(T_g(\tau) = \sum_{n=-1}^\infty \mathrm{tr}(g|V^\natural_n) q^n\), \(q = e^{2\pi i\tau}\) be the McKay-Thompson series for \(g \in {\mathbb M}\). For each prime divisor \(p\) of \(| {\mathbb M} |\), there is an order \(p\) element \(g_p\) of \({\mathbb M}\) for which \(T_{g_p}(\tau)\) is the normalized Hauptmodul for \(\langle \Gamma_0(p), w_p \rangle \subset \mathrm{SL}_2({\mathbb R})\) with \(w_p = \frac{1}{\sqrt{p}} \left(\begin{smallmatrix} 0 & -1\\ p & 0 \end{smallmatrix}\right)\). For \(T_{g_p}(\tau) = \sum_{n=-1}^\infty a(n) q^n\), define \(U_{g_p}(\tau) = \sum_{n=-1}^\infty a(pn) q^n\). The authors show that {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \(U_{g_p}(\tau) \pmod{p}\) is a weight \(p-1\) cusp form modulo \(p\) on \(\mathrm{SL}_2({\mathbb Z})\). \item[(2)] \(U_{g_p}(\tau) \pmod{p}\) is a \({\mathbb Z}\)-linear sum of reciprocals of monic linear polynomials of the modular \(j\) function \(j(\tau)\). \end{itemize}} The roots of these polynomials constitute the set of supersingular \(j\)-invariants in characteristic \(p\) other that \(0\) and \(1728\). Actually, \(U_{g_p}(\tau) \pmod{p}\) is \(0\) if \(p \leq 11\). The assertion (2) implies that the characteristic \(p\) supersingular \(j\)-invariants can be produced from order \(p\) elements of \({\mathbb M}\).

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Cited in

(8)

• The Hasse invariant of the Tate normal form \(E_5\) and the class number of \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-5l})\)
• The number of linear factors of supersingular polynomials and sporadic simple groups
• From moonshine to mock moonshine
• Supersingular elliptic curves and moonshine
• A supersingular coincidence
• Whiskey, Marbles, and Potholes
• Preface
• On the orthogonality of Atkin-like polynomials and orthogonal polynomial expansion of generalized Faber polynomials

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