Trigonometric Determinants via special values of Dirichlet $L$-Functions

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the determinants involving some trigonometric functions. We establish a connection between these determinants and the special values of Dirichlet L-functions, thereby extending Guo's results to arbitrary positive integers n. In addition, we also prove a conjecture raised by Zhi-Wei Sun. Our main tool is the spectral decomposition of some linear operators. By the same method we obtain an explicit formula for the determinants of sine matrices. This formula is expressed as a product of Gauss sums attached to Dirichlet characters.