For a level-one cusp form and any Dirichlet character modulo , this translation sum is a cusp form on . Conjugating that subgroup by yields integral determinant-one matrices; cusp holomorphy under rational slash operators supplies all cusp conditions. Its exact Fourier coefficients at positive indices are . For a primitive Dirichlet character they equal , by the finite Fourier transform of a primitive Dirichlet character. For imprimitive characters the sum can be nonzero at nonunits, so the simplified twist formula need not hold.
First establish rational conjugation of finite-index modular subgroups without assuming that is a congruence subgroup. Multiply by a positive integer to obtain an integral matrix , and let . Conjugation is unchanged by this scalar. If , then
Thus the principal congruence subgroup is contained in . It has finite index because reduction modulo has finite image. Inside , pullback under conjugation of has relative index at most . Consequently
This argument does not assert that an arbitrary finite-index subgroup contains a principal congruence subgroup.
Use the determinant-normalized slash operator
The positive real power of the determinant is used; on this reduces to the usual slash operator for modular forms. The automorphy factor identity gives the right-action rule .
A modular form on a finite-index subgroup of integer weight is a holomorphic function on the complex upper half-plane, invariant under this weight- action of , and holomorphic at a cusp at each of its cusps. A cusp of a modular group is a orbit in . If carries infinity to its representative, choose a positive integer with . Such exists by finite index. Then is periodic and has a convergent expansion in near zero; holomorphy means no negative exponents, and being a cusp form means zero constant term. Using an actual translation period avoids possible signs if a smaller width of a cusp is defined only modulo the center, particularly in odd weights.
For cusp holomorphy under rational slash operators, choose with , possible by completing a primitive integer pair to a determinant-one matrix. Then , with . Up to a nonzero constant factor,
The imaginary part of the argument tends to infinity with that of , so this remains bounded by the cusp expansion of . It tends to zero if is a cusp form. Moreover is invariant under : for , and the right-action rule applies. Finite index gives a translation period for , so boundedness is a removable singularity at zero in that periodic parameter. This proves holomorphy at infinity. For every other cusp, apply the same argument to the rational matrix , with . Thus all cusp conditions hold, and
For the character twist by rational translations of a cusp form, put and . For , direct conjugation gives
Indeed and . Every is therefore -invariant and vanishes at all its cusps by the preceding rational-translate argument. Their finite weighted sum is a cusp form, for every Dirichlet character:
There is, however, a missing primitivity hypothesis in the printed final expansion claim. The exact Fourier expansion of a modular form is always
Values of a Dirichlet character on units have modulus one, so . For unit , substitution gives , where is the Gauss sum of a Dirichlet character. For nonunit , this vanishing formula requires a primitive Dirichlet character.
Here is its proof in that case. Choose a prime . Primitivity supplies a unit with : otherwise the character would factor through the surjective reduction to units modulo . Surjectivity follows by lifting a unit and, if needed, adjusting the lift to avoid the additional prime , using the Chinese remainder theorem. Multiplication by fixes because , but multiplies the character factor by a nontrivial constant. Hence . The finite Fourier transform of a primitive Dirichlet character now gives the corrected formula
The constant is nonzero: finite exponential orthogonality gives , whereas the proved formula makes this . Thus .
For a concrete counterexample to the printed unrestricted claim, take , the principal Dirichlet character, and . The translation sum is , whose coefficient is . Any constant multiple of the proposed odd-index-only series has coefficient zero. Thus the general modularity conclusion is proved, while the claimed simplification is false without the stated extra hypothesis.
Write and . The double-coset Hecke algebra consists of -bi-invariant complex functions on supported on finitely many double cosets, with convolution
Each double coset has finitely many orbits under left multiplication by , by rational conjugation of finite-index modular subgroups. Thus the sum is finite and independent of representatives. The characteristic functions of the double cosets form its basis, and its right action on invariant modular forms is , using the determinant-normalized slash operator.
For a positive integer , let be all integral two-by-two matrices of positive determinant . It is -bi-invariant. Define to be its indicator function, equivalently the sum of the distinct double cosets it contains, each with coefficient one. This is the convention consistent with the requested formula. For composite , it need not be the single double coset of : for instance cannot lie in that double coset, since multiplying by unimodular integral matrices preserves the greatest common divisor of the entries.
Prove all the needed subgroup facts directly. For a finite-index subgroup , take to be the least positive first coordinate appearing in and the least positive second coordinate on its intersection with the second axis. Euclidean division then shows that the first-coordinate projection is and . Positivity follows, for example, because the finite quotient group kills a nonzero multiple of each coordinate vector. Choose and reduce modulo to . Every vector of has first coordinate a multiple of , and subtracting that multiple of leaves a multiple of . Therefore these two vectors form a basis of . The parameters are unique. Reducing the first coordinate modulo and then the second modulo gives precisely quotient representatives, so .
Apply this row Hermite normal form in rank two to the row lattice of an integral matrix with . Its row lattice contains , since , so it has finite index. Its two rows and the displayed two rows are bases of the same row lattice. The two inverse change-of-basis matrices have integer entries, so their determinants are integers whose product is one. Thus the change-of-basis matrix has determinant ; since both orientations are positive, its determinant is one. Thus each orbit under left multiplication by has exactly one of the determinant-n matrix representatives for Hecke operators
There are such representatives, proving finiteness as well as the formula. The subgroup argument is a proof of the relevant Hermite normal form, not an invocation of an unproved lattice classification.
Consequently the normalized Hecke operator is
It preserves : right multiplication by permutes the left-multiplication orbits in , giving invariance, and cusp holomorphy under rational slash operators gives the holomorphy of each term at every cusp.
For a triangular representative the determinant-normalized slash operator is . Summing the Fourier expansion of a modular form over kills every index not divisible by , by finite exponential orthogonality. Thus
The Fourier coefficients of a composite-index Hecke operator are therefore
In particular . If , comparison of the coefficients gives
Finally suppose and is a simultaneous eigenfunction. Constant coefficients force , so for all . Weight two cannot occur, by vanishing of weight-two level-one modular forms. For even , use the normalized Eisenstein series with its Fourier expansion of a normalized Eisenstein series
where is the Bernoulli number. Then is a cusp form with coefficients . The Fourier coefficient bound for a cusp form bounds these by , but at arbitrarily large primes their magnitude is . Since , the coefficient factor must vanish. All coefficients of then vanish, including its constant coefficient, so by its cusp expansion and the identity theorem. This proves the noncuspidal level-one Hecke eigenform characterization: