Traces of singular values of Hauptmoduln

Abstract

In an important paper, Zagier proved that certain half-integral weight modular forms are generating functions for traces of polynomials in the $j$-function. It turns out that Zagier's work makes it possible to algorithmically compute Hilbert class polynomials using a canonical family of modular forms of weight $\frac{3}{2}$. We generalize these results and consider Haupmoduln for levels $1, 2, 3, 5, 7,$ and $13$. We show that traces of singular values of polynomials in Haupmoduln are again described by coefficients of half-integral weight modular forms. This realization makes it possible to algorithmically compute class polynomials.