Complex Moments and the distribution of Values of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$ over Function Fields with Applications to Class Numbers

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the moments and the distribution of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$, where ${\chi }_D$ varies over quadratic characters associated to square-free polynomials $D$ of degree $n$ over ${\mathbb{F}}_q$, as $n\to \infty$. Our first result gives asymptotic formulas for the complex moments of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$ in a large uniform range. Previously, only the first moment has been computed due to work of Andrade and Jung. Using our asymptotic formulas together with the saddle-point method, we show that the distribution function of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$ is very close to that of a corresponding probabilistic model. In particular, we uncover an interesting feature in the distribution of large (and small) values of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$, that is not present in the number field setting. We also obtain $\Omega$-results for the extreme values of $L(1,{\chi }_D)$, which we conjecture to be best possible. Specializing $n=2g+1$ and making use of one case of Artin's class number formula, we obtain similar results for the class number $h_D$ associated to ${\mathbb{F}}_q(T)[\sqrt{D}]$. Similarly, specializing to $n=2g+2$ we can appeal to the second case of Artin's class number formula and deduce analogous results for $h_D{R}_D$ where $R_D$ is the regulator of ${\mathbb{F}}_q(T)[\sqrt{D}]$.

34 pages, 4 figures