Hikami's radial-limit conjecture for false theta functions

From papers

For n0n\geq 0, let (x;q)n=(1x)(1xq)(1xqn1)(x;q)_n=(1-x)(1-xq)\cdots(1-xq^{n-1}) be the qq-Pochhammer symbol, and let [n\k]q\begin{bmatrix}n\k\end{bmatrix}_q denote the qq-binomial coefficient. For m2m\geq 2 and 0am20\leq a\leq m-2, define

Φ~m(a)(q)=mq(ma1)24mn1,,nm10(1)nm1q(nm1+12)+n12++nm22+na+1++nm2i=1m2[ni+1+δi,a i]q.\widetilde{\Phi}_m^{(a)}(q)=mq^{\frac{(m-a-1)^2}{4m}}\sum_{n_1,\dots,n_{m-1}\geq 0}(-1)^{n_{m-1}}q^{\binom{n_{m-1}+1}{2}+n_1^2+\cdots+n_{m-2}^2+n_{a+1}+\cdots+n_{m-2}}\prod_{i=1}^{m-2}\begin{bmatrix}n_{i+1}+\delta_{i,a}\ _i\end{bmatrix}_q.

It has the false-theta expansion

Φ~m(a)(q)=mn0χ2m(a)(n)qn2/4m,\widetilde{\Phi}_m^{(a)}(q)=m\sum_{n\geq0}\chi_{2m}^{(a)}(n)q^{n^2/4m},

where χ2m(a)(n)=1\chi_{2m}^{(a)}(n)=1 if nma1(mod2m)n\equiv m-a-1\pmod{2m}, 1-1 if nm+a+1(mod2m)n\equiv m+a+1\pmod{2m}, and 00 otherwise. Define

Ym,N(a)(q)=n1,,nm1=0N1(1)nm1q(nm1+12)+n12++nm22+na+1++nm2i=1m2[ni+1+δi,a i]q.Y_{m,N}^{(a)}(q)=\sum_{n_1,\dots,n_{m-1}=0}^{N-1}(-1)^{n_{m-1}}q^{\binom{n_{m-1}+1}{2}+n_1^2+\cdots+n_{m-2}^2+n_{a+1}+\cdots+n_{m-2}}\prod_{i=1}^{m-2}\begin{bmatrix}n_{i+1}+\delta_{i,a}\ _i\end{bmatrix}_q.

Let ζN=e2πi/N\zeta_N=e^{2\pi i/N}. Hikami's conjecture. For any m2m\geq2 and 0am20\leq a\leq m-2, the radial limit satisfies

limqζNΦ~m(a)(q)=ζN(ma1)24mYm,N(a)(ζN).\lim_{q\to\zeta_N}\widetilde{\Phi}_m^{(a)}(q)=\zeta_N^{\frac{(m-a-1)^2}{4m}}Y_{m,N}^{(a)}(\zeta_N).

False theta functions have well-defined radial limits at roots of unity, and these limits give quantum modular forms. The paper proves this conjecture, so its status is solved.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Jeremy Lovejoy and Rishabh Sarma, “Bailey pairs, radial limits of q-hypergeometric false theta functions, and a conjecture of Hikami”, arXiv:2402.11529 (2025).

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