Automorphic forms on the upper half plane have been studied for a long time. Most attention has gone to the holomorphic automorphic forms, with numerous applications to number theory. Maass, [34], started a systematic study of real analytic automorphic forms. He extended Hecke’s relation between automorphic forms and Dirichlet series to real analytic automorphic forms. The names Selberg and Roelcke are connected to the spectral theory of real analytic automorphic forms, see, e. g. , [50], [51]. This culminates in the trace formula of Selberg, see, e. g. , Hejhal, [21]. Automorphicformsarefunctionsontheupperhalfplanewithaspecialtra- formation behavior under a discontinuous group of non-euclidean motions in the upper half plane. One may ask how automorphic forms change if one perturbs this group of motions. This question is discussed by, e. g. , Hejhal, [22], and Phillips and Sarnak, [46]. Hejhal also discusses the e?ect of variation of the multiplier s- tem (a function on the discontinuous group that occurs in the description of the transformation behavior of automorphic forms). In [5]–[7] I considered variation of automorphic forms for the full modular group under perturbation of the m- tiplier system. A method based on ideas of Colin de Verdi` ere, [11], [12], gave the meromorphic continuation of Eisenstein and Poincar ́ e series as functions of the eigenvalue and the multiplier system jointly. The present study arose from a plan to extend these results to much more general groups (discrete co?nite subgroups of SL (R)).

Featuring the work of twenty-three internationally-recognized experts, this volume explores the trace formula, spectra of locally symmetric spaces, p-adic families, and other recent techniques from harmonic analysis and representation theory. Each peer-reviewed submission in this volume, based on the Simons Foundation symposium on families of automorphic forms and the trace formula held in Puerto Rico in January-February 2014, is the product of intensive research collaboration by the participants over the course of the seven-day workshop. The goal of each session in the symposium was to bring together researchers with diverse specialties in order to identify key difficulties as well as fruitful approaches being explored in the field. The respective themes were counting cohomological forms, p-adic trace formulas, Hecke fields, slopes of modular forms, and orbital integrals.

This book covers the following three topics in a manner accessible to graduate students who have an understanding of algebraic number theory and scheme theoretic algebraic geometry: 1. An elementary construction of Shimura varieties as moduli of abelian schemes. 2. p-adic deformation theory of automorphic forms on Shimura varieties. 3. A simple proof of irreducibility of the generalized Igusa tower over the Shimura variety. The book starts with a detailed study of elliptic and Hilbert modular forms and reaches to the forefront of research of Shimura varieties associated with general classical groups. The method of constructing p-adic analytic families and the proof of irreducibility was recently discovered by the author. The area covered in this book is now a focal point of research worldwide with many far-reaching applications that have led to solutions of longstanding problems and conjectures. Specifically, the use of p-adic elliptic and Hilbert modular forms have proven essential in recent breakthroughs in number theory (for example, the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture by A. Wiles and others). Haruzo Hida is Professor of Mathematics at University of California, Los Angeles. His previous books include Modular Forms and Galois Cohomology (Cambridge University Press 2000) and Geometric Modular Forms and Elliptic Curves (World Scientific Publishing Company 2000).

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Automorphic forms are an important complex analytic tool in number theory and modern arithmetic geometry. They played for example a vital role in Andrew Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. This text provides a concise introduction to the world of automorphic forms using two approaches: the classic elementary theory and the modern point of view of adeles and representation theory. The reader will learn the important aims and results of the theory by focussing on its essential aspects and restricting it to the 'base field' of rational numbers. Students interested for example in arithmetic geometry or number theory will find that this book provides an optimal and easily accessible introduction into this topic.