The Whittaker period formula on Metaplectic SL(2)

Abstract

The Whittaker period formula on metaplectic $SL(2)$ was previously established only when the base field $F$ is totally real. We present a new simple proof that works for all base number fields. Our local argument is uniform at every local place of $F$, based on the isometry property of quadratic Fourier transform and the estimates of matrix coefficients and Whittaker functions imposed by the unitariness of the local representations.