Modular formIn mathematics, a modular form is a (complex) analytic function on the upper half-plane that satisfies: a kind of functional equation with respect to the group action of the modular group, and a growth condition. The theory of modular forms therefore belongs to complex analysis. The main importance of the theory is its connections with number theory. Modular forms appear in other areas, such as algebraic topology, sphere packing, and string theory.
L-functionIn mathematics, an L-function is a meromorphic function on the complex plane, associated to one out of several categories of mathematical objects. An L-series is a Dirichlet series, usually convergent on a half-plane, that may give rise to an L-function via analytic continuation. The Riemann zeta function is an example of an L-function, and one important conjecture involving L-functions is the Riemann hypothesis and its generalization. The theory of L-functions has become a very substantial, and still largely conjectural, part of contemporary analytic number theory.
Automorphic formIn harmonic analysis and number theory, an automorphic form is a well-behaved function from a topological group G to the complex numbers (or complex vector space) which is invariant under the action of a discrete subgroup of the topological group. Automorphic forms are a generalization of the idea of periodic functions in Euclidean space to general topological groups. Modular forms are holomorphic automorphic forms defined over the groups SL(2, R) or PSL(2, R) with the discrete subgroup being the modular group, or one of its congruence subgroups; in this sense the theory of automorphic forms is an extension of the theory of modular forms.
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