Self-adjoint boundary value problems of automorphic forms

Abstract

We apply some ideas of Bombieri and Garrett to construct natural self-adjoint operators on spaces of automorphic forms whose only possible discrete spectrum is $\lambda_{s}$ for $s$ in a subset of on-line zeros of an $L$-function, appearing as a compact period of cuspidal-data Eisenstein series on $GL_{4}$. These ideas have their origins in results of Hejhal and Colin de Verdi\'ere. In parallel with the $GL(2)$ case, the corresponding pair-correlation and triple-correlation results limit the fraction of on-the-line zeros that can appear in this fashion.