Finite and symmetric colored multiple zeta values and multiple harmonic q-series at roots of unity

Abstract

The Kaneko-Zagier conjecture states that finite and symmetric multiple zeta values satisfy the same relations. In the previous work with H.~Bachmann and Y.~Takeyama, we proved that the finite and symmetric multiple zeta value are obtained as an `algebraic' and `analytic' limit at $q\to 1$ of a certain truncated multiple harmonic $q$-series, and studied its relations in order to give partial evidence of the Kaneko-Zagier conjecture. In this paper, we start with truncated multiple harmonic $q$-series of level $N$, which is a $q$-analogue of the truncated colored multiple zeta value. We introduce our finite and symmetric colored multiple zeta values as an algebraic and analytic limit of the truncated multiple harmonic $q$-series of level $N$ and discuss a higher level (or a cyclotomic) analogue of the Kaneko-Zagier conjecture.

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Selecta Math