C OMPOSITIO M ATHEMATICA
D IPENDRA P RASAD
On an extension of a theorem of Tunnell
Compositio Mathematica, tome 94, n
o1 (1994), p. 19-28
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19-
On
anextension of
atheorem of Tunnell
DIPENDRA
PRASAD~
Mehta Research Institute, 10 Kasturba Gandhi Marg (Old Kutchery Rd ), Allahabad-211002
(India) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Bombay-400005 (India)
Received 24 May 1993; accepted in final form 18 August 1993 (Ç) 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
1. Introduction
Let K be a
quadratic
extension of a non-Archimedean local field k of characteristic #2. Then it is a theorem of Tunnell[Tu]
in odd residuecharacteristic,
andproved recently by
Saito[S]
ingeneral,
that one candescribe which characters of K* appear in an irreducible admissible
representation
ofGL(2, k)
or in an irreduciblerepresentation
ofD:,
whereDk
is theunique quaternion
divisionalgebra over k,
in terms of certainepsilon
factors. If therepresentation
ofGL(2, k)
cornes from a character ofK* via the construction of the Weil
representation,
cf.[J-L,
Theorem4.6],
then the
representation decomposes
into two irreduciblerepresentations
when restricted to
GL(2, k)+ = {xEGL(2,k)ldet(x)ENK*}
where NK* isthe
subgroup
of k* of index 2consisting
of norms fromK*; similarly
forDr
for which we denote thecorresponding subgroup
of index 2by Dk*+.
Clearly
K* is contained both inGL(2, k) +,
and inDr +,
and it is the purpose of this note togeneralise
Tunnell’s theorem to describe which characters of K* appear in these tworepresentations
ofGL(2, k)+,
and ofDr +.
For a discrete seriesreprésentation 71:
ofGL(2, k),
we let 7c’ dénote therepresentation
ofD*k
associatedby Jacquet-Langlands
to n.We now state Tunnell’s
theorem,
and ourgeneralisation,
moreprecisely.
THEOREM 1.1.
(Tunnell).
Let Te be an irreducible admissibleinfinite
dimensional
representation of GL(2, k)
with central character Q)n and let 6n be the associated two-dimensionalrepresentation of the Weil-Deligne
groupof
k. Let X be a
character of
K* such thatXlk*
= (J)n8Let t/J
be an additivecharacter
of k
and Xo an elementof K
such thattr(x o) =
0.Define an
additivecharacter
t/J 0 of K by t/J o(x)
=t/J(tr[( - xx 0/2)J).
Then theepsilon factor 8( ( n IK Q9 X - 1, t/J 0) is independent of the
choiceof Ç
and Xo, and takes the t The research was partially supported by an NSERC Fellowship of the Canadian government, andwas completed at the University of Toronto.
value 1
if and only if x
appears in n, and takes the value - 1f
andonly if
X appears in n’.REMARK. It is customary, as Tunnell
himself did,
to uset/lK(X) = (tr x)
instead of the character
Vio
that we used. If one usest/1 K’
then Tunnell’s theorem says that a character X of K* as before appears in arepresentation
x of
GL(2, k)
if andonly
if8(unlK
©x-1, t/I K). wn( -1)
= 1. The charactert/1 K
has beenchanged
tot/I 0
with the purpose ofeliminating
the factorwn( -1),
and as we shall see in the nextparagraph,
when Un is a sum of twocharacters,
theresulting
twoepsilon
factors with respect to03C8o
still take valuesin }
±1};
both of these areimportant
to our extension of Tunnell’s theorem. The introduction of the "extra factor"of -1/2
in the definitionof
03C8o
is to make the later formulae a little easier.If the
representation
n ofGL(2, k)
comes from a character 0 ofK*,
therepresentation
Un of the Weil group is induced from the character 0 ofK*,
cf.[J-L,
p.396].
ThereforeunlK.
= 0+ 0
where6
is the characterO(x) = 8(x) (where
x - x is the non-trivialautomorphism
of K overk).
Therefore the
epsilon
factor8( U n IK. Q9 X - 1, t/I 0)
considered in Tunnell’s theorem factorises as8( U n IK.
QX -1, t/I 0)
=e(OX - " q’O) - e(UX -Vi 0).
Wecheck that both
E(ex -1, t/1 0)’
ands(0/* B t/1 0)
take valuesin {
±1} (and
hereit is
important
that/o
is trivial onk). By
the Galois invariance of theepsilon factor, 8( (}X - 1, t/I 0) = 8(8x - 1, fii 0) = 8(8x -1, t/1 o( - x)),
andby
thecondition on central
characters, ((}X - 1) Ik.
= WK/k where COKIK is thequad-
ratic character of k* associated
by
the classfieldtheory
to K, and therefore°X-1 = e -1 x.
It follows thatand since
8(V,1/10)’8(V*,1/10)
=(det V)(- 1)
for anyrepresentation
V of theWeil group of
k, 8( ()X - 1, 1/10)2 =
1.Similarly 8(eX - 1 , 1/1 0)2
= 1. Therefore theset of characters X of K* with
(x-1.())lk*
= úJK/k and8(0"1tIK*
(8)X-l, 1/10)
= 1is
exactly
the set of characters X of K* such thate(OX t/1 0)
andc(OX glo)
are either both 1 or are both -1.
We now state our
generalisation
of Tunnell’s theorem.THEOREM 1.2. Let rc be an irreducible admissible
representation of GL(2, k)
associated to a character 0of
K*. Fixembeddings of
K* inGL(2, k) +
and inD*’ (there
are twoconjugacy
classesof
suchembeddings
in
general),
and choose an additivecharacter 1/1 of k,
and an element xoof
K*with
tr(xo)
= 0. Then therespresentation 7r of GL(2, k) decomposes
asn = n + E9 n - when restricted to
GL(2, k) +,
and therepresentation
n’of D*
decomposes
as 7r’ =7r’+
E9 7r’- when restricted toDt +,
such thatfor
a21 character X
of
K* with(x . O-l)lk*
= WK/k’ X appears in n+if
andonly if
B( °x - 1, t/1 0)
=e(UX ’, t/1 0)
=1,
X appears in n -if
andonly if E(9x-1, t/1 0)
=B(OX-1, t/10) = - 1,
X appears in71’ if
andonly f B(OX-1, t/10)
= 1 andB(OX-1, t/1 0) = -1,
and X appears in 7r’-if
andonly if B(OX-1, 0) 1
andB( 0 X - 1, t/1 0) = 1.
REMARK. Theorem 1.2 is also true, and easy to prove, for
GL(2, R),
butas
D* + = D*,
it does not make sense in this case.The
possibility
of such ageneralisation
of Tunnell’s theorem wassuggested by
M. Harris whom the author thanksheartily. Analogous
factorisation of the
epsilon factors, though
notcovering
this case, has beenconjectured
to exist verygenerally
in[G-P].
The author also wishes to thank the referee for his comments which havehelped improve
theexposition.
2. Two theorems on
epsilon
factorsWe will assume that the reader is familiar with the basic
properties
of theepsilon factor, 8(J, Vi),
associated to a finite dimensionalcomplex
represen- tation u of Weil groupof k,
and an additivecharacter Vi
of k. We refer toTate’s article
[Ta]
as ourgeneral
reference onepsilon factors;
our conven-tion for the
epsilon
factor are the one usedby Langlands,
and in thenotation of
[Ta],
it iscL(6, lk)
=’eD(Ull 112 t/1, dx)
where dx is the Haarmeasure on k self-dual for Fourier transform with respect to
t/1. We, however,
do want to recall two theorems aboutepsilon
factors which willbe crucial to our
calculations;
the first due toDeligne [D, Lemma 4.1.6]
describes how
epsilon
factorchanges
undertwisting by
a character of smallconductor,
and the second is a theorem of Frohlich andQueyrut [F-Q,
Theorem3].
THEOREM 2.1. Let a and
fi
be twomultiplicative
charactersof a local , field
K such that
cond(a) >,
2cond(p).
For an additivecharacter t/1 of K,
let y bean element
of
K such thata(l + x) = t/1(xy) for
all xeK withval(x) >, -tcond(ot) if
conductorof
a ispositive; if
conductorof
a is0,
lety = 7C k cond(.p) where 7rk is a
uniformising
parameterof
k. ThenTHEOREM 2.2. Let K be a
separable quadratic
extensionof
alocal field k,
and t/1
an additive characterof
k. Lett/1 K
be the additive characterof
Kdefined by t/1K(X) = t/1(tr x). Then for
any character Xof
K* which is trivial3. The main lemma
Here is the main lemma used in the
proof
of ourtheorem;
it may be of someindependent
interest. It will beproved
hereonly
for local field of odd residue characteristic.LEMMA 3.1. Let K be a
quadratic
extensionof
alocal field
k. Lett/1
be anadditive character
of k,
and xo E K* such thattr(xo)
= 0.Define
an additivecharacter
t/1o of K by t/1o(x)
=t/1(tr[ -xxo/2]).
Thenwhere,
as isusual,
the summation on theright
isby partial
sums over allcharacters
of
K *of
conductor n.Proof.
Asalready
observed in theintroduction,
for characters X of K*with
Xlk*
= (J)K/k’e(x, glo) =
+ 1. For an element r ofk*,
and character X of K* asbefore, e(x, t/1 o(rx» = «)KII(r)e(X, t/1 0).
Theequation
can therefore be written as,
From
this,
it follows that once the lemma isproved
for one choice of thepair (xo, gl),
it is true for any other. We will choose the additive charactert/1
to have conductor0,
and xo to be a unit if K is an unramified extension and auniformising
parameter if K is ramified. It is also clear that once the lemma is true forx E K*,
it is true for any rx for r E k*.We now fix a character
ÎoKlk
of K* which extends the character roK/k of k* in thefollowing
way. If K is an unramified extension ofk,
then we letWK/k
be trivial on theunits,
and take the value -1 on anyuniformising
23 parameter of K*. If K is a ramified extension of k with maximal compact
subrings (9,
and(9k,
anduniformising parameters
1tKand 1tk respectively,
then
«9,1n,)* -= «(!)k/1tk)*’
We use thisisomorphism
to extend úJK/k to(9K*
(úJ K/k
is trivial on 1 +1tk (9k
in the odd residuecharacteristic),
and thenextend to K*
arbitrarily
in one of the twopossible
ways. The characterWK/k
of K* has conductor 0 if K is an unramified extension
of k,
and hasconductor 1 if K is ramified. We will
apply
Theorem 2.1 to thecharacters,
in the notation of that
theorem,
a =X - i7ô- ’ and 03B2
=WK/k’
Thehypothesis
of that theorem will be satisfied if either K is unramified or if
cond(x) >
2.It is easy to see that if K is
ramified,
then any character X of K* which extends the character úJK/k ofk*,
has either evenconductor,
or hasconductor
1;
if the conductor is1, X
is eitherWK/k’
or isWK/k .
J1. where J1. isthe unramified character of K*
taking
the value -1 at 1tK.Since J1.
isunramified with
M(nK) = - 1,
andWK/k
has conductor1, 8(WK/
k . J1., t/J 0) = - 8( WK/k’ t/J 0). It
follows thatexactly
one ofWK/k
ora)K/k
J1. hasits
epsilon
factor 1. We now use Theorems 2.1 and 2.2 to calculate8(1.., glo)
where X has conductor a 2 if K is a ramified extension. We let y, denote
an element of K such that for all XE K with
val(x) >, cond(X)/2,
X -WK/
k(1
+x) = t/JK(Yx’ x)
wheret/JK
is the charactert/JK(X) = t/J(tr x).
With thisnotation,
we haveIf K is unramified
over k,
then Xo has been chosen to be aunit,
and thereforeWK/k(XO)
= 1. In this case yx can be taken to ben;cond(x),
thereforewe find
E(x, t/1 0) = (-l)cond(x). If x
= ao + al nk + ... +arnk
+ ... whereai E
(!)K’
and r is thelargest positive integer
such thatai E (!)k
for all i r, thelemma reduces to
where q
is thecardinality
of the residue field of k. This is easy toverify,
andwe omit the
proof,
and turn our attention to the more difhcult case oframified extension.
In the rest of the
proof
we will assume K to be a ramified extension ofk, X
a character of K* of conductor2f a 2
withXlk* =--
WK/k. Ourjob
is tocalculate
WK/k(YX)
whereYxEK*
has the property thatSince t/1
issupposed
to have conductor0,
Yx looks likeni(2/+1)ao(X)
+
ni2/ al(X)
+ ... withao(X) E({)t,
andai(X) E({)k.
As xo is this time chosento be nK,
B{X,t/1o)
=(1JK/k(-n¥+2ao(x)/2).
Since Xo = nK issupposed
tohave trace
0, N(n K) = - ni:,
and hence(1JK/k(nk) = roK/k( -1).
ThereforeB{X, t/1 0) = (1JK/k« -1)/ a 0(X)/2).
SinceffiK/k« -1)/ a 0(X)/2)
isclearly
1 or -1depending
on whether( - 1)fao(z)/2
is a square in the finite field({)klnk
ornot, it is clear that out of
2(qf - q/-1)
characters X of K* withxlt
= ffiK/kand of conductor
2f, exactly qf - q/-l
haveë(/, t/10)
= 1. We are nowready
to
evaluate £z(x)
where the summation is over the characters X of K* withB(X, t/10)
= 1 andXlk*
=(1JK/k at
an élément x = 1 +ani(-l
+ ..., wherea G Wf .
The terms with
cond(X)
> 2r add up to zero because if8(X, /o)
= 1 then forany character v of K* of conductor 2r with
vlk*
=1, e(X -
v,t/J 0)
= 1 also.Observe that
t/J(nï: lx)
is a non-trivial additive character on the finite field(9klnk,
and if (J) denotes theunique
non-trivialquadratic
character of«(!)k/nk)*’
then25 On the other
hand,
Therefore for any
aE«(!)k/nk)*’
Therefore,
As
CùK/k(nk) = CùK/k( -1),
this isexactly
what the lemmarequires
atx = 1 +
aK -1
+ ... witha E (f):.
This proves theidentity
of the lemma at units of K*. It remains to check it at theuniformising
parameter nK-If X
is a character of even conductor with
8(X, t/10) = 1,
then for the unramifiedcharacter J.1
of K* withJ.1(nK) = -1, 8(X. J.1, t/1 0)
= 1. It follows that thesummation in the lemma reduces
to just
one term of conductor1,
which iseasily
checked to beequal
to the left-hand side of thepurported equality.
This
completes
theproof
of the lemma.4. Proof of the main theorem
Before we
begin
theproof
of our maintheorem,
we note thefollowing
lemma of
Langlands ([L],
Lemma7.19).
LEMMA 4.1. Let n
(resp. 7:’)
be therepresentation of GL(2, k) (resp. Dk )
associated to a character 0
of
K*. Then n restricted toGL(2, k) + _ {xEGL(2, k)ldet(x) ENK*}
and n’ restricted toD: + = {xED:ldet(x)ENK*}
decompose
into two irreduciblerepresentations. If we fix
an additive charac-ter t/1 of k,
an elementXoeK*
withtr(xo)
=0,
andembeddings of
K* inGL(2, k) +
andD: +,
then we can write the two irreducible componentsof n
as n + and n - with characters X + and X -, and
of n’as n’+
and n’- withcharacters
X’+
andX’-
such that onK*,
and,
REMARK 4.2 It is customary to use the lambda factor
À(Klk, gl)
in theabove lemma instead of
8(WK/k’ t/1)
that we have used.They
are of courseequal.
We are now
ready
to prove our main theorem(Theorem 1.2)
which werecall
again.
THEOREM 4.3. Let n be an irreducible admissible
representation of GL(2, k)
associated to a character 0of
K*. Fixembeddings of
K* inGL(2, k) +
and inD* ’ (there
are twoconjugacy
classesof
such embedd-ings
ingeneral),
and choose an additive charactert/1 of k,
and an elementxo
of
K* withtr(xo)
= 0. Then therepresentation
nof GL(2, k)
decom-poses as n = n+ Et) 7r- when restricted to
GL(2, k)+,
and therepresentation
n’
of D: decomposes
as n’= n’+
n’- when restricted toD: +
such thatfor
a character X
of
K* with(x - 0 - 1* =
WK/k’ x appears in n +if
andonly if 8(OX-1, t/10)
=E(o x -1, qio)
=1,
X appears in n-if
andonly if E(ox -1, i/r o)
=8(lJX-1,t/10)=-1,
X appears inn’+ if
andonly if 8(OX-1,t/10)
= 1 ande(O X - t/10) _ -1,
and X appears in n’-if
andonly if e(O - x 1 t/10)
= - 1and
E(8x -1,1/ro)
= 1.Proof.
Theproofs
forGL(2, k)
andD,*
arecompletely analogous.
Wecarry out the
proof only
for the case ofGL(2, k).
From Lemma
3.1,
27 Therefore
by
Lemma4.1,
As the sum of all characters X with
(X. e-1)lk*
= úJK/k is zero, this reduces toBy
Tunnell’stheorem,
The last two
equations complete
theproof
of the theorem.REMARK 4.4 It is
possible
to reformulate Theorem 4.2 as follows. Definea character 8x:
Z/2
xZ/2 --+
±11 by 8x(1,0)
=E(ex -1, t/J 0)
and8(0, 1) = E(OX-’, Vi 0).
The valueof 8x
on(1, 1)
is 1 or -1depending
on whether X appears in therepresentation
n ofGL(2, k)
or in therepresentation
n’ ofDf. Corresponding
torepresentations
7r+, n__,n’+, 7r’-,
define characters8+,8_,8’+,8’- by E+ - 1, E_(O, 1) = - 1, E_(O, 1) = -1, E+(1, O) = 1, e’ (0, 1) = - 1, 8’-(1,0) = -1, E’_ (o, 1)
= 1. Let à be any of the charactersn +, n -, n’, n’-,
and8(n)
thecorresponding
charactere +, e -, e’, e’.
ThenTheorem 4.2 can be reformulated to say that the
multiplicity
with whichthe character X of K* appears in any of the
representations
ir iswhere the sum is over g E
Z/2
xZ/2.
Finally,
we note that if à also denotes the restriction of ir toSL(2, k)
orSL,(Dk)
as the case maybe,
and if we letxl
denote the restriction of X tothe
subgroup K’
of norm one elementsof K*,
then themultiplicity m(n, Xl)
with
which X’
appears in à iswhere the sum is over all the characters Il of K* which are trivial on K’ - k*.
We now make two remarks
concerning
the situation when a representa- tion ofGL(2, k)
is obtained from aquadratic
field K but is restricted to L*for L =1= K.
REMARK 4.5 Let rc = n, Q _ be the
decomposition
of arepresentation
n obtained from a character of K* as a
representation
ofGL(2, k) +
asbefore. Let L =1 K be a
quadratic
extension ofk,
and let L’=
{IEL*INIENK*}. Clearly,
L’ is contained inGL(2, k)+.
Since there isan element of L* whose determinant does not lie in
NK*,
and any such element permutes n+and n_,
any character of L’ which appears in n+ also appears in n_. Since L’ has index 2 inL*,
it follows that any character of L’ appears withmultiplicity
1 in 7r, and n_, and that the restriction to L’ of a character 0 of L* appears in n+ or n- if andonly
if 0 appears in n.REMARK 4.6 Let n = n, Q n2 Q n3 Q n4 be a
representation
ofGL(2, k)
such that xi (D ni, i =
2, 3,
4 is arepresentation
ofGL(2, k) + corresponding
to three distinct
quadratic
fieldsK2, K3, K4.
LetK2
={xEK!INxENK!}.
It follows from the
previous
remark that if a character ofK2
appears in 7r, it does so withmultiplicity 1,
and then it also appears in n2 withmultiplicity
1 but does not appear in n3 and n4’References
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of One Variable II LNM, 349 (1973), 501-597.
[F-Q] A. Frohlich and J. Queyrut, On the functional equation of the Artin L-function for characters of real representations, Inv. Math. 20 (1973), 125-138.
[G-P] B. H. Gross and D. Prasad, On the decomposition of a representation of SO(n) when
restricted to SO(n - 1), Canadian J. of Math. 44 (1992), 974-1002.
[J-L] H. Jacquet and R. Langlands, Automorphic forms on GL(2), LNM 114 (1970).
[L] R. P. Langlands, Base Change for GL(2), Annals of Math. Studies 96, Princeton University Press, 1980.
[S] H. Saito, On Tunnell’s formula for characters of GL(2), Compositio Math. 85 (1993),
99-108.
[Ta] J. Tate, Number Theoretic background, in Automorphic Forms, Representations, and
L-functions (Corvallis), AMS Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 33 (1979).
[Tu] J. Tunnell, Local epsilon factors and characters of GL(2), American Journal of Math. 105 (1983), 1277-1307.