On a $q$-deformation of modular forms

Abstract

There are many instances known when the Fourier coefficients of modular forms are congruent to partial sums of hypergeometric series. In our previous work arXiv:1803.01830, such partial sums are related to the radial asymptotics of infinite $q$-hypergeometric sums at roots of unity. Here we combine the two features to construct a hypergeometric $q$-deformation of two CM modular forms of weight 3 and discuss the corresponding $q$-congruences.