Laplace-eigenvalue equations for length three modular iterated integrals

Abstract

A space of modular iterated integrals sits inside the space of real analytic modular forms. We present a theorem for producing length three modular iterated integrals which are not simply combinations of real analytic Eisenstein series; each function has an associated Laplace-eigenvalue equation. This can be viewed as an extension of the length two case recently given by F. Brown, a review of which is included in this paper. We discuss how modular iterated integrals could help understand the modular graph functions which arise in string perturbation theory.