Unbounded denominators conjecture for noncongruence modular forms

Let ΓSL2(Z)\Gamma\leq\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}) be a finite-index noncongruence subgroup, and let ff be a noncongruence modular form for Γ\Gamma whose Fourier coefficients lie in Q\overline{\mathbb{Q}}.

Unbounded denominators conjecture. The Fourier coefficients of ff have unbounded denominators. Equivalently, for every positive integer nn, the Fourier coefficients of nfnf are not all algebraic integers.

This folklore conjecture distinguishes noncongruence modular forms from congruence modular forms, which have bases with algebraic-integral Fourier coefficients. The conjecture was proved by Calegari, Dimitrov, and Tang using Nevanlinna theory, although their proof does not determine which primes can occur in the unbounded denominators.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

William Y. Chen, “Noncongruence modular curves as Hurwitz spaces”, arXiv:2510.12003 (2025).

Progress summary

Never refreshed

Nothing recorded yet. Refresh searches the literature and the public web for attempts on this problem, and writes the first summary here.

Solutions 0

No solutions have been posted yet.