Publications

Andrews-Dyson-Hickerson, Cohen build a striking relation between q-hypergeometric series, real quadratic fields, and Maass forms. Thanks to the works of Lewis-Zagier and Zwegers we have a complete understanding on the part of these relations pertaining to Maass forms and false-indefinite theta functions. In particular, we can systematically distinguish and study the class of false-indefinite theta functions related to Maass forms. A crucial component here is the framework of mock Maass theta functions built by Zwegers in analogy with his earlier work on indefinite theta functions and their application to Ramanujan’s mock theta functions. Given this understanding, a natural question is to what extent one can utilize modular properties to investigate the asymptotic behavior of the associated Fourier coefficients, especially in view of their relevance to combinatorial objects. In this paper, we develop the relevant methods to study such a question and show that quite detailed results can be obtained on the asymptotic development, which also enable Hardy-Ramanujan-Rademacher type exact formulas under the right conditions. We develop these techniques by concentrating on a concrete example involving partitions with parts separated by parity and derive an asymptotic expansion that includes all the exponentially growing terms.

The study of partitions with parts separated by parity was initiated by Andrews in connection with Ramanujan’s mock theta functions, and his variations on this theme have produced generating functions with a large variety of different modular properties. In this paper, we use Ingham’s Tauberian theorem to compute the asymptotic main term for each of the eight functions studied by Andrews.

In 2015, Lovejoy and Osburn discovered twelve q-hypergeometric series and proved that their Fourier coefficients can be understood as counting functions of ideals in certain quadratic fields. In this paper, we study their modular and quantum modular properties and show that they yield three vector-valued quantum modular forms on the group \(\Gamma_0 (2)\).

False theta functions are functions that are closely related to classical theta functions and mock theta functions. In this paper, we study their modular properties at all ranks by forming modular completions analogous to modular completions of indefinite theta functions of any signature and thereby develop a structure parallel to the recently developed theory of higher depth mock modular forms. We then demonstrate this theoretical base on a number of examples up to depth three coming from characters of modules for the vertex algebra $W^0(p)_A_n$, \(1 ≤n ≤3\), and from Z-hat invariants of 3-manifolds associated with gauge group \(SU(3)\).

False theta functions form a family of functions with intriguing modular properties and connections to mock modular forms. In this paper, we take the first step towards investigating modular transformations of higher rank false theta functions, following the example of higher depth mock modular forms. In particular, we prove that under quite general conditions, a rank two false theta function is determined in terms of iterated, holomorphic, Eichler-type integrals. This provides a new method for examining their modular properties and we apply it in a variety of situations where rank two false theta functions arise. We first consider generic parafermion characters of vertex algebras of type \(A_2\)and \(B_2\). This requires a fairly non-trivial analysis of Fourier coefficients of meromorphic Jacobi forms of negative index, which is of independent interest. Then we discuss modularity of rank two false theta functions coming from superconformal Schur indices. Lastly, we analyze Z-hat invariants of Gukov, Pei, Putrov, and Vafa for certain plumbing H-graphs. Along the way, our method clarifies previous results on depth two quantum modularity.

False theta functions closely resemble ordinary theta functions, however they do not have the modular transformation properties that theta functions have. In this paper, we find modular completions for false theta functions, which among other things gives an efficient way to compute their obstruction to modularity. This has potential applications for a variety of contexts where false and partial theta series appear. To exemplify the utility of this derivation, we discuss the details of its use on two cases. First, we derive a convergent Rademacher-type exact formula for the number of unimodal sequences via the Circle Method and extend earlier work on their asymptotic properties. Secondly, we show how quantum modular properties of the limits of false theta functions can be rederived directly from the modular completion of false theta functions proposed in this paper.

Squashed toric sigma models are a class of sigma models whose target space is a toric manifold in which the torus fibration is squashed away from the fixed points so as to produce a neck-like region. The elliptic genera of squashed toric-Calabi-Yau manifolds are known to obey the modular transformation property of holomorphic Jacobi forms, but have an explicit non-holomorphic dependence on the modular parameter. The elliptic genus of the simplest one-dimensional example is known to be a mixed mock Jacobi form, but the precise automorphic nature for the general case remained to be understood. We show that these elliptic genera fall precisely into a class of functions called higher-depth mock modular forms that have been formulated recently in terms of indefinite theta series. We also compute a generalization of the elliptic genera of these models corresponding to an additional set of charges corresponding to the toric symmetries. Finally we speculate on some relations of the elliptic genera of squashed toric models with the Vafa-Witten partition functions of \(\mathcalN=4\)SYM theory on \(\mathbbC\mathbbP^2 \).

Topologically twisted \(\mathcalN=4\)super Yang-Mills theory has a partition function that counts Euler numbers of instanton moduli spaces. On the manifold \(\mathbbC\mathbbP^2 \)and with gauge group U(3) this partition function has a holomorphic anomaly which makes it a mock modular form of depth two. We employ the Circle Method to find a Rademacher expansion for the Fourier coefficients of this partition function. This is the first example of the use of Circle Method for a mock modular form of a higher depth.

Theta functions for definite signature lattices constitute a rich source of modular forms. A natural question is then their generalization to indefinite signature lattices. One way to ensure a convergent theta series while keeping the holomorphicity property of definite signature theta series is to restrict the sum over lattice points to a proper subset. Although such series do not generally have the modular properties that a definite signature theta function has, as shown by Zwegers for signature $(1,n-1) lattices, they can be completed to a function that has these modular properties by compromising on the holomorphicity property in a certain way. This construction has recently been generalized to signature (2,n-2)$ lattices by Alexandrov, Banerjee, Manschot, and Pioline. A crucial ingredient in this work is the notion of double error functions which naturally lends itself to generalizations. In this work we study the properties of such error functions which we will call r-tuple error functions. We then construct an indefinite theta series for signature (r,n-r) lattices and show they can be completed to modular forms by using these r-tuple error functions.
Note: The constant proportionality factor in Proposition 3.14(e) has a typo in the power of the determinant term. I would like to thank the authors arxiv:2301.00902 for noticing this. This is corrected in the pdf file here.

We consider double scaled little string theory on $K3. These theories are labelled by a positive integer k ≥2 and an ADE root lattice with Coxeter number k. We count BPS fundamental string states in the holographic dual of this theory using the superconformal field theory K3 \times \left( \fracSL(2,\mathbbR)_kU(1) \times \fracSU(2)_kU(1) \right) \big/ \mathbbZ_k. We show that the BPS fundamental string states that are counted by the second helicity supertrace of this theory give rise to weight two mixed mock modular forms. We compute the helicity supertraces using two separate techniques: a path integral analysis that leads to a modular invariant but non-holomorphic answer, and a Hamiltonian analysis of the contribution from discrete states which leads to a holomorphic but not modular invariant answer. From a mathematical point of view the Hamiltonian analysis leads to a mixed mock modular form while the path integral gives the completion of this mixed mock modular form. We also compare these weight two mixed mock modular forms to those that appear in instances of Umbral Moonshine labelled by Niemeier root lattices X that are powers of ADE$ root lattices and find that they are equal up to a constant factor that we determine. In the course of the analysis we encounter an interesting generalization of Appell-Lerch sums and generalizations of the Riemann relations of Jacobi theta functions that they obey.

We associate a Jacobi form over a rank s lattice to N=2, D=4 heterotic string compactifications which have s Wilson lines at a generic point in the vector multiplet moduli space. Jacobi forms of index m=1 and m=2 have appeared earlier in the context of threshold corrections to heterotic string couplings. We emphasize that higher index Jacobi forms as well as Jacobi forms of several variables over more generic even lattices also appear and construct models in which they arise. In particular, we construct an orbifold model which can be connected to models that give index m=3, 4 or 5 Jacobi forms through the Higgsing process. Constraints from being a Jacobi form are then employed to get threshold corrections using only partial information on the spectrum. We apply this procedure for index m=3, 4 or 5 Jacobi form examples and also for Jacobi forms over A_2 and A_3 root lattices. Examples with a single Wilson line are examined in detail and we display the relation of Siegel forms over a paramodular group \Gamma_m to these models, where \Gamma_m is associated with the T-duality group of the models we study. Finally, results on the heterotic string side are used to clarify the linear mapping of vector multiplet moduli to Type IIA duals without using the one-loop cubic part of the prepotential on the Type II side, and also to give predictions for the geometry of the dual Calabi-Yau manifolds.
Note: Equation 108 is misprinted in the arxiv version. This is later corrected in the published version and in the pdf file here.

We present the covariant symplectic structure of the Topologically Massive Gravity and find a compact expression for the conserved charges of generic spacetimes with Killing symmetries

We consider the Gaussian $N-relay diamond network, where a source wants to communicate to a destination node through a layer of N-relay nodes. We investigate the following question: what fraction of the capacity can we maintain by using only k out of the N available relays? We show that independent of the channel configurations and the operating SNR, we can always find a subset of k relays which alone provide a rate \frackk+1\barC-G, where \barC is the information theoretic cutset upper bound on the capacity of the whole network and G is independent of the channel coefficients and the SNR and depends only on N and k (logarithmic in N and linear in k). In particular, for k=1, this means that half of the capacity of any N-relay diamond network can be approximately achieved by routing information over a single relay. We also show that this fraction is tight: there are configurations of the N-relay diamond network where every subset of k relays alone can at most provide approximately a fraction \frackk+1 of the total capacity. These high-capacity k-relay subnetworks can be also discovered efficiently. We propose an algorithm that computes a constant gap approximation to the capacity of the Gaussian N-relay diamond network in O(N\log N) running time and discovers a high-capacity k-relay subnetwork in O(kN) running time. This result also provides a new approximation to the capacity of the Gaussian N$-relay diamond network which is hybrid in nature: it has both multiplicative and additive gaps. In the intermediate SNR regime, this hybrid approximation is tighter than existing purely additive or purely multiplicative approximations to the capacity of this network.