Research Seminars @ Illinois

Tailored for undergraduate researchers, this calendar is a curated list of research seminars at the University of Illinois. Explore the diverse world of research and expand your knowledge through engaging sessions designed to inspire and enlighten.

To have your events added or removed from this calendar, please contact OUR at ugresearch@illinois.edu

Number Theory Seminar

Mar 10, 2026   11:50 am  
Loomis 136
Sponsor
Department of Mathematics
Speaker
Jeremy Rouse (Wake Forest University)
Views
3
Originating Calendar
General Events - Department of Mathematics

Speaker: Jeremy Rouse (Wake Forest University)

Title: Modular forms with only nonnegative coefficients

Abstract: Many modular forms are generating functions for interesting arithmetic objects. For this reason, it is natural to ask, given a modular form f, whether all the Fourier coefficients of f are non-negative. We study this problem for modular forms of level 1 and weight k ≡ 0 (mod 4). We define A(k) to be the smallest positive integer so that if f(z) = Σ a(n) q^n is any weight k modular form for which a(r) ≥ 0 for all r ≤ A(k), then all the Fourier coefficients of f are non-negative. We show that k^2 << A(k) << k^4(log k)^2.

We also show that the set of modular forms with non-negative Fourier coefficients corresponds naturally to the points in a finite, bounded polytope, and discuss challenges in considering analogous questions in higher level. This is joint work with Paul Jenkins.

link for robots only