Toric periods for a $p$-adic quaternion algebra

Abstract

Let $G$ be a compact group with two given subgroups $H$ and $K$. Let $\pi$ be an irreducible representation of $G$ such that its space of $H$-invariant vectors as well as the space of $K$-invariant vectors are both one dimensional. Let $v_H$ (resp. $v_K$) denote an $H$-invariant (resp. $K$-invariant) vector of unit norm in a given $G$-invariant inner product $\langle ~,~ \rangle_\pi$ on $\pi$. We are interested in calculating the correlation coefficient \[c(\pi;H,K) = |\langle v_H,v_K \rangle_\pi|^2.\] In this paper, we compute the correlation coefficient of an irreducible representation of the multiplicative group of the $p$-adic quaternion algebra with respect to any two tori. In particular, if $\pi$ is such an irreducible representation of odd minimal conductor with non-trivial invariant vectors for two tori $H$ and $K$, then its root number $\varepsilon(\pi)$ is $\pm 1$ and $c(\pi; H, K)$ is non-vanishing precisely when $\varepsilon(\pi) = 1$.