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If a one-dimensional modular cusp space is stable under the phase-normalized Fricke involution, its scalar action is determined by evaluation at the fixed point. The phase-normalized prefactor is one there; if the form is nonzero at that point, the eigenvalue is $+1$. A product with strictly positive convergent factors on the imaginary axis supplies such a value and also makes the central completed L-function of a cusp form positive when its central Mellin integral has real positive kernel.

Hecke operators give a commuting family of arithmetic symmetries of modular forms. They preserve the weight and cusp forms, and diagonalizing them turns the Fourier coefficients of a modular form into multiplicative arithmetic data. Odd weight spaces are zero by the action of $-I$; in weight zero the operators act on constants by $T_{n}1={\sigma }_{-1}(n)$. For the substantive theory, fix an even positive weight $k$ and $\Gamma =S{L}_2(\mathbb{Z})$, and use the following normalization consistently.

Extend the slash operator for modular forms to $G{L}_2^{+}(\mathbb{Q})$ byIt is a right action and positive scalar matrices act trivially. Let ${\mathcal{D}}_n$ be the integral matrices of determinant $n>0$. The determinant-n matrix representatives for Hecke operators for $\Gamma \backslash {\mathcal{D}}_n$ areInteger row operations reduce the first column to $(a,0)$, after which a row shear reduces $b$ modulo $d$; uniqueness follows from these same conditions. The Hecke operator isRight multiplication by $\Gamma$ permutes the left cosets, so $T_{n}f$ is again invariant under the weight-$k$ slash operator for modular forms. Each summand is a holomorphic function on the complex upper half-plane, and the coefficient formula below proves holomorphy at a cusp. Thus $T_n$ acts on $M_k(\Gamma )$ and preserves $S_k(\Gamma )$. Geometrically, these operators sum over index-$n$ sublattices, or equivalently the associated finite-degree correspondences between complex tori; the factors above compensate for the weight's response to lattice scaling.

Write $f={\sum }_{r\ge 0}{a}_r{q}^r$. The sum over $b$ is zero unless $d\mid r$, in which case it is $d$. Substituting into the displayed definition proves the Fourier coefficients of a composite-index Hecke operator formulawith $\gcd (n,0)=n$. In particular, $a_0(T_{n}f)={\sigma }_{k-1}(n)a_0(f)$ and $a_1(T_{n}f)=a_n(f)$. At a prime this becomeswhere $a_{r/p}=0$ if $p\nmid r$.

The Hecke multiplication relations areThey can be checked by applying the coefficient formula twice and regrouping the divisors. More explicitly, coprime indices factor independently, so $T_m{T}_n=T_{mn}$ if $(m,n)=1$. At a prime, separating the terms in the divisor sum according to whether one more factor $p$ is available givesIteration gives $T_{p^a}{T}_{p^b}={\sum }_{j=0}^{\min (a,b)}{p}^{j(k-1)}{T}_{p^{a+b-2j}}$; combining the prime factors gives the full relation. Hence all Hecke operators commute, $T_1=1$, and the Hecke algebra of modular forms is generated by the $T_p$ together with scalars.

The Petersson inner product on the finite-dimensional cusp form space isThe integrand is invariant and the integral converges because cusp forms decay exponentially at the cusp. The Hecke operators are self-adjoint for the Petersson inner product at level one. To see the underlying adjoint calculation, unfold the finite correspondence for a determinant-$n$ matrix and change variable $\tau \mapsto \alpha \tau$. The invariant hyperbolic measure and the determinant-normalized slash factors transfer $\alpha$ from one side of the inner product to ${\alpha }^{-1}$. Scalar matrices act trivially, so one can replace ${\alpha }^{-1}$ by the integral adjugate $n{\alpha }^{-1}$, which again has determinant $n$. This reverses the correspondence and permutes the same collection of terms, with the same real prefactor $n^{k/2-1}$. Summing givesCommuting self-adjoint operators on a finite-dimensional inner-product space admit a common orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. Thus $S_k(\Gamma )$ has a basis of simultaneous Hecke eigenforms, with real eigenvalues.

A nonzero simultaneous cuspidal Hecke eigenform has $a_1\ne 0$: if $T_{n}f={\lambda }_{n}f$ and $a_1=0$, comparison of the first coefficients gives $a_n={\lambda }_n{a}_1=0$ for every $n\ge 1$, so $f=0$. Normalize $a_1=1$. ThenConsequently the full Fourier series is determined by the eigenvalues, and a simultaneous eigenvalue system has a one-dimensional eigenspace. The Hecke multiplication relations translate intoIn particular the coefficients are multiplicative at coprime indices and are determined by the prime coefficients. This is the elementary multiplicity-one statement for normalized level-one Hecke eigenforms.

The Hecke eigenvalues are algebraic integers. One way to explain the arithmetic input is to use the rational structure supplied by the graded ring $M_{\ast }(\Gamma ,\mathbb{Q})=\mathbb{Q}[E_4,E_6]$. The rational cusp form space has a basis with integral Fourier coefficients, for example from appropriate monomials in $E_4,E_6,\Delta$. Its subgroup of forms whose entire expansions are integral is a full lattice: a finite initial coefficient map is injective by the valence formula for the modular group, so it embeds this subgroup into a finite-rank integer module. The coefficient formula shows that every $T_n$ preserves this lattice, and therefore has a monic integral characteristic polynomial. Its eigenvalues are algebraic integers. Simultaneous diagonalization also makes their number field finite over $\mathbb{Q}$; conjugating the rational coefficient data gives another eigenform, whose eigenvalues are again real by self-adjointness. Thus the coefficient field is totally real.

For a normalized cuspidal Hecke eigenform, define its L-function of a cusp form by $L(f,s)={\sum }_{n\ge 1}{a}_n{n}^{-s}$. The coefficient relations yield the Euler product of a Hecke eigenformIndeed the prime-power recurrence gives ${\sum }_{r\ge 0}{a}_{p^r}{X}^r=(1-a_{p}X+p^{k-1}{X}^2{)}^{-1}$, and multiplicativity assembles these factors. These identities hold analytically in an initial right half-plane, as well as formally. For instance boundedness of $y^{k/2}|f(\tau )|$ on the full complex upper half-plane gives $a_n=O(n^{k/2})$, so $\mathrm{Re}s>k/2+1$ suffices for absolute convergence.

The Mellin transform of a cusp-form L-function relates this arithmetic to the modular transformation:Splitting at one and using $f(i/y)=i^k{y}^{k}f(iy)$ givesExponential cusp decay makes the last integral entire in $s$. This proves the analytic continuation and functional equation of the L-function of a cusp form, complementing its Euler product. The root number is $i^k=(-1{)}^{k/2}$.

Two examples show the scope of the theory. For even $k\ge 4$, the Eisenstein series $E_k$ is an eigenform with $T_n{E}_k={\sigma }_{k-1}(n)E_k$. This follows from its divisor-sum expansion and the same multiplicativity relations; its associated positive-index Dirichlet series is proportional to $\zeta (s)\zeta (s-k+1)$. The constant coefficient gives $M_k(\Gamma )=\mathbb{C}{E}_k\oplus S_k(\Gamma )$, so an eigenbasis of the cusp space together with $E_k$ gives an eigenbasis of the whole modular-form space. The ordinary Petersson inner product above is only used on the cusp space, where it converges. In weight twelve the valence formula for the modular group gives $\dim S_{12}=1$: cancellation of the first coefficients of two independent cusp forms would give a nonzero form with order at infinity at least two, exceeding $12/12$. Thus the normalized modular discriminant is a Hecke eigenform; writing $\Delta ={\sum }_{n\ge 1}\tau (n)q^n$ gives the Ramanujan tau function relations $\tau (mn)=\tau (m)\tau (n)$ for coprime $m,n$ and $\tau (p^{r+1})=\tau (p)\tau (p^r)-p^{11}\tau (p^{r-1})$.