Aimed at presenting nontechnical explanations, all the essays in this collection of papers from the 1989 LMS Durham Symposium on L-functions are the contributions of renowned algebraic number theory specialists.

Since the pioneering work of Euler, Dirichlet, and Riemann, the analytic properties of L-functions have been used to study the distribution of prime numbers. With the advent of the Langlands Program, L-functions have assumed a greater role in the study of the interplay between Diophantine questions about primes and representation theoretic properties of Galois representations. This book provides a complete introduction to the most significant class of L-functions: the Artin-Hecke L-functions associated to finite-dimensional representations of Weil groups and to automorphic L-functions of principal type on the general linear group. In addition to establishing functional equations, growth estimates, and non-vanishing theorems, a thorough presentation of the explicit formulas of Riemann type in the context of Artin-Hecke and automorphic L-functions is also given. The survey is aimed at mathematicians and graduate students who want to learn about the modern analytic theory of L-functions and their applications in number theory and in the theory of automorphic representations. The requirements for a profitable study of this monograph are a knowledge of basic number theory and the rudiments of abstract harmonic analysis on locally compact abelian groups.

Many problems in number theory have simple statements, but their solutions require a deep understanding of algebra, algebraic geometry, complex analysis, group representations, or a combination of all four. The original simply stated problem can be obscured in the depth of the theory developed to understand it. This book is an introduction to some of these problems, and an overview of the theories used nowadays to attack them, presented so that the number theory is always at the forefront of the discussion. Lozano-Robledo gives an introductory survey of elliptic curves, modular forms, and $L$-functions. His main goal is to provide the reader with the big picture of the surprising connections among these three families of mathematical objects and their meaning for number theory. As a case in point, Lozano-Robledo explains the modularity theorem and its famous consequence, Fermat's Last Theorem. He also discusses the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture and other modern conjectures. The book begins with some motivating problems and includes numerous concrete examples throughout the text, often involving actual numbers, such as 3, 4, 5, $\frac{3344161}{747348}$, and $\frac{2244035177043369699245575130906674863160948472041} {8912332268928859588025535178967163570016480830}$. The theories of elliptic curves, modular forms, and $L$-functions are too vast to be covered in a single volume, and their proofs are outside the scope of the undergraduate curriculum. However, the primary objects of study, the statements of the main theorems, and their corollaries are within the grasp of advanced undergraduates. This book concentrates on motivating the definitions, explaining the statements of the theorems and conjectures, making connections, and providing lots of examples, rather than dwelling on the hard proofs. The book succeeds if, after reading the text, students feel compelled to study elliptic curves and modular forms in all their glory.

The theory of p-adic and classic modular forms, and the study of arithmetic and p-adic L-functions has proved to be a fruitful area of mathematics over the last decade. Professor Hida has given courses on these topics in the USA, Japan, and in France, and in this book provides the reader with an elementary but detailed insight into the theory of L-functions. The presentation is self contained and concise, and the subject is approached using only basic tools from complex analysis and cohomology theory. Graduate students wishing to know more about L-functions will find that this book offers a unique introduction to this fascinating branch of mathematics.

Zeta and L-functions play a central role in number theory. They provide important information of arithmetic nature. This book, which grew out of the author's teaching over several years, explores the interaction between number theory and combinatorics using zeta and L-functions as a central theme. It provides a systematic and comprehensive account of these functions in a combinatorial setting and establishes, among other things, the combinatorial counterparts of celebrated results in number theory, such as the prime number theorem and the Chebotarev density theorem. The spectral theory for finite graphs and higher dimensional complexes is studied. Of special interest in theory and applications are the spectrally extremal objects, called Ramanujan graphs and Ramanujan complexes, which can be characterized by their associated zeta functions satisfying the Riemann Hypothesis. Explicit constructions of these extremal combinatorial objects, using number-theoretic and combinatorial means, are presented. Research on zeta and L-functions for complexes other than graphs emerged only in recent years. This is the first book for graduate students and researchers offering deep insight into this fascinating and fast developing area.

An especially timely work, the book is an introduction to the theory of p-adic L-functions originated by Kubota and Leopoldt in 1964 as p-adic analogues of the classical L-functions of Dirichlet. Professor Iwasawa reviews the classical results on Dirichlet's L-functions and sketches a proof for some of them. Next he defines generalized Bernoulli numbers and discusses some of their fundamental properties. Continuing, he defines p-adic L-functions, proves their existence and uniqueness, and treats p-adic logarithms and p-adic regulators. He proves a formula of Leopoldt for the values of p-adic L-functions at s=1. The formula was announced in 1964, but a proof has never before been published. Finally, he discusses some applications, especially the strong relationship with cyclotomic fields.

The amount of mathematics invented for number-theoretic reasons is impressive. It includes much of complex analysis, the re-foundation of algebraic geometry on commutative algebra, group cohomology, homological algebra, and the theory of motives. Zeta and L-functions sit at the meeting point of all these theories and have played a profound role in shaping the evolution of number theory. This book presents a big picture of zeta and L-functions and the complex theories surrounding them, combining standard material with results and perspectives that are not made explicit elsewhere in the literature. Particular attention is paid to the development of the ideas surrounding zeta and L-functions, using quotes from original sources and comments throughout the book, pointing the reader towards the relevant history. Based on an advanced course given at Jussieu in 2013, it is an ideal introduction for graduate students and researchers to this fascinating story.

This volume develops methods for proving the non-vanishing of certain L-functions at points in the critical strip. It begins at a very basic level and continues to develop, providing readers with a theoretical foundation that allows them to understand the latest discoveries in the field.

A book on any mathematical subject beyond the textbook level is of little value unless it contains new ideas and new perspectives. It helps to include new results, provided that they give the reader new insights and are presented along with known old results in a clear exposition. It is with this philosophy that the author writes this volume. The two subjects, Dirichlet series and modular forms, are traditional subjects, but here they are treated in both orthodox and unorthodox ways. Regardless of the unorthodox treatment, the author has made the book accessible to those who are not familiar with such topics by including plenty of expository material.

A groundbreaking contribution to number theory that unifies classical and modern results This book develops a new theory of p-adic modular forms on modular curves, extending Katz's classical theory to the supersingular locus. The main novelty is to move to infinite level and extend coefficients to period sheaves coming from relative p-adic Hodge theory. This makes it possible to trivialize the Hodge bundle on the infinite-level modular curve by a "canonical differential" that restricts to the Katz canonical differential on the ordinary Igusa tower. Daniel Kriz defines generalized p-adic modular forms as sections of relative period sheaves transforming under the Galois group of the modular curve by weight characters. He introduces the fundamental de Rham period, measuring the position of the Hodge filtration in relative de Rham cohomology. This period can be viewed as a counterpart to Scholze's Hodge-Tate period, and the two periods satisfy a Legendre-type relation. Using these periods, Kriz constructs splittings of the Hodge filtration on the infinite-level modular curve, defining p-adic Maass-Shimura operators that act on generalized p-adic modular forms as weight-raising operators. Through analysis of the p-adic properties of these Maass-Shimura operators, he constructs new p-adic L-functions interpolating central critical Rankin-Selberg L-values, giving analogues of the p-adic L-functions of Katz, Bertolini-Darmon-Prasanna, and Liu-Zhang-Zhang for imaginary quadratic fields in which p is inert or ramified. These p-adic L-functions yield new p-adic Waldspurger formulas at special values.