Drinfeld discriminant function and Fourier expansion of harmonic cochains

Abstract

Let $F_\infty=\mathbb{F}_q(\!(1/T)\!)$ be the completion of $\mathbb{F}_q(T)$ at $1/T$. We develop a theory of Fourier expansions for harmonic cochains on the edges of the Bruhat-Tits building of $\mathrm{PGL}_r(F_\infty)$, $r\geq 2$, generalizing an earlier construction of Gekeler for $r=2$. We then apply this theory to study modular units on the Drinfeld symmetric space $\Omega^r$ over $F_\infty$, and the cuspidal divisor groups of Satake compactifications of certain Drinfeld modular varieties. In particular, we obtain a higher dimensional analogue of a result of Ogg for classical modular curves $X_0(p)$ of prime level.