L-values of harmonic Maass forms

Abstract

Bruinier, Funke, and Imamoglu have proved a formula for what can philosophically be called the "central $L$-value" of the modular $j$-invariant. Previously, this had been heuristically suggested by Zagier. Here, we interpret this "$L$-value" as the value of an actual $L$-series, and extend it to all integral arguments and to a large class of harmonic Maass forms which includes all weakly holomorphic cusp forms. The context and relation to previously defined $L$-series for weakly holomorphic and harmonic Maass forms are discussed. These formulas suggest possible arithmetic or geometric meaning of $L$-values in these situations. The key ingredient of the proof is to apply a recent theory of Lee, Raji, and the authors to describe harmonic Maass $L$-functions using test functions.