The algebraic functional equation of Riemann's theta function

Abstract

We give an algebraic analog of the functional equation of Riemann's theta function. More precisely, we define a `theta multiplier' line bundle over the moduli stack of principally polarized abelian schemes with theta characteristic and prove that its dual is isomorphic to the determinant bundle over the moduli stack. We do so by explicitly computing with Picard groups over the moduli stack. This is all done over the ring R=Z[1/2,i]: passing to the complex numbers, we recover the classical functional equation.