Computing modular equations for Shimura curves

Abstract

In the classical setting, the modular equation of level $N$ for the modular curve $X_0(1)$ is the polynomial relation satisfied by $j(\tau)$ and $j(N\tau)$, where $j(\tau)$ is the standard elliptic $j$-function. In this paper, we will describe a method to compute modular equations in the setting of Shimura curves. The main ingredient is the explicit method for computing Hecke operators on the spaces of modular forms on Shimura curves developed in [13].