On the period interpretation for some special values of Thakur hypergeometric functions

Abstract

In 1995, Thakur invented and studied positive characteristic analogues of hypergeometric functions. In this paper, we interpret the special values of those functions as periods of a pre-$t$-motive. As a consequence, we show their transcendence and linear independence results by using Chang's refined version of the Anderson-Brownawell-Papanikolas criterion. Furthermore, as by-products, we show some linear/algebraic independence results among the special values of Kochubei multiple polylogarithms according to our period interpretation and the corresponding refined criterion.