Modular formIn mathematics, a modular form is a (complex) analytic function on the upper half-plane that satisfies: a kind of functional equation with respect to the group action of the modular group, and a growth condition. The theory of modular forms therefore belongs to complex analysis. The main importance of the theory is its connections with number theory. Modular forms appear in other areas, such as algebraic topology, sphere packing, and string theory.
Ramanujan–Petersson conjectureIn mathematics, the Ramanujan conjecture, due to , states that Ramanujan's tau function given by the Fourier coefficients τ(n) of the cusp form Δ(z) of weight 12 where , satisfies when p is a prime number. The generalized Ramanujan conjecture or Ramanujan–Petersson conjecture, introduced by , is a generalization to other modular forms or automorphic forms.
Srinivasa RamanujanSrinivasa Ramanujan (ˈsriːnᵻvɑːsə_rɑːˈmɑːnʊdʒən ; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, sriːniʋaːsa ɾaːmaːnud͡ʑan ajːaŋgar; 22 December 1887 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including solutions to mathematical problems then considered unsolvable. Ramanujan initially developed his own mathematical research in isolation.
Automorphic formIn harmonic analysis and number theory, an automorphic form is a well-behaved function from a topological group G to the complex numbers (or complex vector space) which is invariant under the action of a discrete subgroup of the topological group. Automorphic forms are a generalization of the idea of periodic functions in Euclidean space to general topological groups. Modular forms are holomorphic automorphic forms defined over the groups SL(2, R) or PSL(2, R) with the discrete subgroup being the modular group, or one of its congruence subgroups; in this sense the theory of automorphic forms is an extension of the theory of modular forms.
Hecke operatorIn mathematics, in particular in the theory of modular forms, a Hecke operator, studied by , is a certain kind of "averaging" operator that plays a significant role in the structure of vector spaces of modular forms and more general automorphic representations. used Hecke operators on modular forms in a paper on the special cusp form of Ramanujan, ahead of the general theory given by .
Eigenvalues and eigenvectorsIn linear algebra, an eigenvector (ˈaɪgənˌvɛktər) or characteristic vector of a linear transformation is a nonzero vector that changes at most by a constant factor when that linear transformation is applied to it. The corresponding eigenvalue, often represented by , is the multiplying factor. Geometrically, a transformation matrix rotates, stretches, or shears the vectors it acts upon. The eigenvectors for a linear transformation matrix are the set of vectors that are only stretched, with no rotation or shear.
Arithmetic progressionAn arithmetic progression or arithmetic sequence ( ()) is a sequence of numbers such that the difference from any succeeding term to its preceding term remains constant throughout the sequence. The constant difference is called common difference of that arithmetic progression. For instance, the sequence 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, . . . is an arithmetic progression with a common difference of 2.
Pierre DelignePierre René, Viscount Deligne (dəliɲ; born 3 October 1944) is a Belgian mathematician. He is best known for work on the Weil conjectures, leading to a complete proof in 1973. He is the winner of the 2013 Abel Prize, 2008 Wolf Prize, 1988 Crafoord Prize, and 1978 Fields Medal. Deligne was born in Etterbeek, attended school at Athénée Adolphe Max and studied at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), writing a dissertation titled Théorème de Lefschetz et critères de dégénérescence de suites spectrales (Theorem of Lefschetz and criteria of degeneration of spectral sequences).
Weil conjecturesIn mathematics, the Weil conjectures were highly influential proposals by . They led to a successful multi-decade program to prove them, in which many leading researchers developed the framework of modern algebraic geometry and number theory. The conjectures concern the generating functions (known as local zeta functions) derived from counting points on algebraic varieties over finite fields. A variety V over a finite field with q elements has a finite number of rational points (with coordinates in the original field), as well as points with coordinates in any finite extension of the original field.
Canonical basisIn mathematics, a canonical basis is a basis of an algebraic structure that is canonical in a sense that depends on the precise context: In a coordinate space, and more generally in a free module, it refers to the standard basis defined by the Kronecker delta. In a polynomial ring, it refers to its standard basis given by the monomials, . For finite extension fields, it means the polynomial basis. In linear algebra, it refers to a set of n linearly independent generalized eigenvectors of an n×n matrix , if the set is composed entirely of Jordan chains.
