Anderson-Stark units for ${\mathbb{F}}_q[\theta ]$

Abstract

We investigate the arithmetic of special values of a new class of $L$-functions recently introduced by the second author. We prove that these special values are encoded in some particular polynomials which we call Anderson-Stark units. We then use these Anderson-Stark units to prove that $L$-functions can be expressed as sums of polylogarithms.