Multiplier systems for Siegel modular groups

Abstract

Deligne proved that the weights of Siegel modular forms on any congruence subgroup of the Siegel modular group of genus g>1 must be integral or half integral. We give a different proof for this. It uses Mennicke's result that subgroups of finite index of the Siegel modular group are congruence subgroups and some techniques from a paper of Bass-Milnor-Serre.